Handbook of Psychology

CHAPTER 19

Child Health Psychology

LAMIA P. BARAKAT, ALICIA KUNIN-BATSON, AND ANNE E. KAZAK

439

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS 439
Assumption 1 439
Assumption 2 440
Assumption 3 441
Assumption 4 442
LEVELS OF RISK AND RELATED
PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS 444
Universal Interventions 445
Selective Interventions 445
Indicated Interventions 446
UNIVERSAL INTERVENTIONS 446
Interventions in Primary Care Settings 446
Prevention of Unintentional Injuries 447

SELECTIVE INTERVENTIONS 448

Management of Pain and Distress 448

Treatment Adherence 453

INDICATED INTERVENTIONS 454

Traumatic Brain Injury in Children 454

Pediatric Brain Tumors 456

Transplantation 457

CONCLUSIONS 458

REFERENCES 458

The “eld of child health psychology is broad, multifaceted,
and multidisciplinary in nature. Encompassing the well-
being of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, it
includes an emphasis on health (e.g., absence of disease, pre-
vention) as well as illnesses and injuries (major and minor,
acute and chronic). Child health psychologists collaborate
with pediatricians, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, and
other health care providers to design and implement in-
terventions aimed at reducing distress, promoting adjust-
ment, and maintaining health. Child health psychologists
may also be involved in public policy initiatives to promote
health. The “eld of child health psychology draws from other
specialized areas of psychology, including developmen-
tal, clinical, clinical-child, health, social, and family psy-
chology. Comprehensive integration across these multiple
disciplines and emphases is beyond the scope of any one
chapter. In this summary of child health psychology, we inte-
grate the diverse child health psychology intervention litera-
ture within the parameters of four focused assumptions and
three levels of intervention that we believe are crucial to ad-
vancing the health and well-being of children and their fami-
lies now and in the future.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Assumption 1

Children’s health and illness must be viewed contextually;

the family is a central organizing framework for understand-

ing child health. All aspects of child health psychology rest

on the assumption that children live within a social context in

which care will be provided and that children•s growth and

development within this context are paramount considera-

tions. Social ecology (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) provides a

helpful framework for understanding the context of child de-

velopment; as applied in pediatric psychology by our group,

it guides understanding of the interactions among childhood

illness, the individual child, and systems internal (parent, sib-

lings, extended family) and external (school, neighborhood,

parent workplace, health care setting) to the family.

In social ecology, the ill child is at the center of a series of

concentric circles (Figure 19.1). The child•s circle is nested

within a larger circle that includes members of the family

system (mothers, fathers, siblings, extended family) and the

illness (type, course, prognosis, chronicity, etc.). The family

is central to the social context of the child for many reasons,