Cellie Coping Kit

Medical conditions and medical treatment come with many challenges for children and their families. Challenges may include dealing with a new diagnosis or injury, communicating about medical conditions, being faced with frightening or unpleasant medical procedures, dealing with changes in physical appearance or abilities, managing emotional reactions, and navigating peer relationships and education. Families can benefit from resources to guide them through this journey.

Meet Cellie!

Cellie Plush Toy

The Cellie Coping Kit was created as a tool to support parents or other caregivers in helping their child and child's siblings manage the medical experience. This evidence-based coping tool was developed by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Kentucky Children’s Hospital. The kit was designed to increase positive coping strategies utilizing evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral coping techniques (e.g., relaxation, social support seeking) for a range of challenges such as medical procedures, emotions related to the child’s medical condition, recovery and treatment, treatment side effects, and challenges related to school and peers.

The Cellie Coping Kit includes:

Cellie: a stuffed toy used for engagement. Cellie is also integrated into many of the coping tips.
Coping Cards: a set of cards that provide children with evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral coping techniques for a range of common stressors specifically related to their medical condition.
Caregiver Book: offers strategies for parents or other caregivers to help children deal with their medical condition.

Cellie Coping Kit

What makes The Cellie Coping Kit unique?

Addresses a broad array of medical condition challenges. The Kit identifies stressors that are specific to a medical condition and its treatment – such as nausea, pain, needle sticks and long hospital stays – and suggests a variety of coping tips for each stressor. The Kit is currently available for children with
- cancer (available in English and Spanish) ,
- sickle cell disease,
- eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE),
- food allergy,
- injury,
- and for siblings of children with medical conditions.

Additional versions are under development.

Easy for kids to use. Child-friendly language, artwork and go-anywhere design makes the Kit accessible to children and easy to use in any setting without the help of a behavioral health professional.
Packed with advice. In total, the Kit includes over 150 coping strategies for children and families, with “here and now” advice for parents to use to help their children cope.

Developed from diverse sources. The Kit provides coping strategies for children and families that come from research, advice directly from families of children with medical conditionsand leading experts in pediatric illness and injury.

Customizable to every family. Families can choose the stressors that are most relevant to their experience and the coping strategies that work best for them. And children can include their own ideas on writeable coping cards.

Can be integrated into treatment. Whether a child life specialist is demonstrating a procedure on the toy, a nurse giving Cellie "medication,"or a psychologist is talking through challenges and coping tips with the child, the Kit can be incorporated into many elements of care.

Encourages communication. The topics covered in the kit encourage important, productive conversations between parent and child, parent and healthcare provider, and child and healthcare provider.

Two Cellie Plush Toys

How to Use Cellie Coping Kit in the Hospital

Children and families can use the Cellie Coping Kit on its own, at home, in the hospital, during a procedure and in conjunction with nurses, doctors, child life specialists, therapists, or other mental health providers.

Guidance for healthcare providers:

Using the Cellie Coping Kit in the Hospital

• Assess patient and family's stressors using DEF Framework.

• Review and select coping cards to help patient and family cope with identified stressor(s).

• Remind caregivers to act as teachers for their child by using the Kit.

• Implement the coping strategies together throughout their medical care.

• Follow up with the family. If the family experienced any difficulties, brainstorm additional ways to use the Kit. Refer to appropriate mental health professional if distress continues, increases, or interferes with daily living/medical care.

For an example of how to use the Cellie Coping Kit with cancer patients, click here .

In a several recent published studies, children and parents found the Cellie Coping Kit easy to use, helpful, and engaging. Families reported learning new information (e.g., signs, symptoms, and progressions) and skills (e.g., implementing deep breathing) for coping with their illness, its treatment and disease management.

For more information about the Cellie Coping Kit and to purchase kit for your hospital, visit www.celliecopingcompany.com. Follow Cellie Coping Kit on Facebook and Twitter!

Publications about the Cellie Coping Kit

Marsac, M.L., Hildenbrand, A., Clawson, K., Jackson, L, Kohser, K., Barakat, L, Kassam-Adams, N., Aplenc, R., Vinsel, A, Alderfer, M.A.: Preliminary data on acceptability and feasibility of the Cellie Cancer Coping Kit. Supportive Care in Cancer, 20(12):3315-3324, 2012. doi:10.1007/s00520-012-1475-y https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-012-1475-y
Marsac, M.L., Klingbeil, O.G., Hildenbrand, A.K., Alderfer, M.A., Kassam-Adams, N., Smith-Whitley, K., Barakat, L.P.: The Cellie Coping Kit for Sickle Cell Disease: Initial acceptability and feasibility. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 2014; 4(2): 389-399. doi: 10.1037/cpp0000062 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-26945-001
Cole, D., Weiss, D., Kohser, K.L., Jones, C., Kassam-Adams, N., Brown-Whitehorn, T., Lewis, M., Devine, P., Marsac, M.L. The Cellie Coping Kit for Children with Food Allergy: A Pilot Study. Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, 2017, 30(1): 39-44. doi:10.1089/ped.2016.0698.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ped.2016.0698
Marsac, M.L., Weiss, D., Kohser, K.,L.,Van Allen, J., Seegan, P., Ostrowski-Delahanty, S., McGar, A., Winston, F.K., & Kassam-Adams, N. The Cellie Coping Kit for Children with Injury: Initial feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes. Child Care Health Development. 2018;44:599–606. doi.org/10.1111/cch.12565

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cch.12565
Marsac, M.L., Sprang, G., Guller, L., Kohser, K.L., Draus, J.M., Kassam-Adams, N. Protocol for a randomized control trial of a parent-led intervention to promotion recovery following pediatric injury. BMC Trials. 2019; 20 (137). doi.org/10.1186/s13063-019-3207-9

https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-019-3207-9

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Using the Cellie Coping Kit in the Hospital