Abstract
Although pediatric cancer is often considered a traumatic event, there
is significant variability in youth psychosocial outcomes. Many children
report coping well and they do not differ from their peers on indices of
psychopathology. Understanding what makes children with cancer resilient
is vital to supporting those at risk. Therefore, the goal of this
systematic review was to identify factors associated with increased
resilience following a pediatric cancer diagnosis. A systematic search
of four databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, ProQuest, and Academic Search
Complete) resulted in 1356 unique records, of which 40 met inclusion
criteria. Resilience-enhancing factors included family cohesion, strong
parent-child relationships, and social support as well as youths’ coping
strategies, positive attitudes toward illness, optimism, hope, and
ego-resilience. The factors identified are potentially malleable and
thus could contribute to the development of strengths-based psychosocial
interventions. Future studies would benefit from person-based or
multilevel analyses and prospective designs.