An Intervention to Increase Coping and Reduce Health Care Utilization for School-age Children and Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease

The purpose of this study was to examine whether coping with pain changed immediately and one year after a self-care intervention for school-age children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Sixty-five children and 32 adolescents attended an educational program for living with SCD. They were then randomly assigned to relaxation, art therapy or attention-control groups. Coping was measured before, after the intervention, and 12 months later. Thirty-three children and 14 adolescents completed the one year follow-up. Although there was no significant increase in the overall number of coping strategies school-age children and adolescents used from baseline to 12 months, there was a significant increase in those strategies specifically targeted by the intervention. For adolescents, there was a significant increase in the total number of coping scores used before the intervention and one year later. When compared to well African-American adolescents, overall coping scores in this sample were significantly lower. Health care utilization related to clinic visits, emergency department visits and hospitalizations decreased significantly for all participants in the study.