CARE Study

Elizabeth Gage-Bouchard, PhD
Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at Roswell Park

Kara Kelly, MD is the Chair of Pediatric Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Christopher McCarty, PhD is Director of the Survey Research Center and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Florida.

Mark Prince, PhD is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Addiction Counseling in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University.

Olle Jane Sahler, MD is a Professor in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Division at Golisano Children’s Hospital and the George Washington Goler Chair in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Funding Agency: The National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health

Abstract: Having a child diagnosed with cancer is very stressful for parents and affects the whole family. When their child is receiving cancer treatment, parents/primary caregivers must balance their existing family and work commitments with the treatment protocols as they adjust to the new demands of being a caregiver of a sick child. Parents/caregivers of children with cancer may receive support, help and assistance from other people.

The main goal of the CARE Study is to understand who parents/caregivers of pediatric cancer patients turn to for social support and how their support experiences shape family outcomes. In this study, we also examine the health and well-being of parents/caregivers, as well as support processes in parents’ daily lives.

At the time of recruitment, all CARE Study participants are parents or primary caregivers of children (ages 0-18) who are receiving active therapy for cancer. This 5-year study is being conducted at Roswell Park and John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, NY and at University of Rochester Medicine’s Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester, NY. Our goal is to recruit a total of 150 parents/caregivers by 2021.