TITLE
Youth with Chronic Medical Conditions: Family Processes, Risk, and Resilience
ABSTRACT
Due to significant medical advances, survival rates for youth with chronic medical conditions such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and congenital heart defects have increased dramatically. However, the sequelae of pediatric illness–including psychological distress and chronic pain–continue to impact youth and families through adolescence and into adulthood. These sequelae are often undiagnosed and untreated, placing a significant burden on youth, parents, and the healthcare system. This talk will present a program of research dedicated to preventing the development of distress and chronic pain in youth with chronic medical conditions by bolstering resilience in families. This research makes use of longitudinal designs, multi-method assessments, as well as large and nationally representative healthcare datasets. Three avenues of research will be discussed: (1) characterizing family processes after diagnosis of a pediatric illness, (2) identifying family processes that predict risk for child distress and pain, and (3) developing and testing family-based interventions that can be delivered remotely via eHealth platforms after the diagnosis of a pediatric illness.
ABOUT
Dr. Lexa Murphy is a postdoctoral research fellow at Seattle Children’s Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Tonya Palermo. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University and completed her predoctoral internship training in child psychology at University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her research interests include family adjustment after a pediatric medical diagnosis, psychosocial predictors of pain in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease, and development and testing of interventions for youth with chronic pain.
