Preparing Children for Invasive Medical Cancer Treatment with “My Logbook”: Preliminary Results of a Pilot Study

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Liesa J. Weiler-Wichtl - , Medical University of Vienna, KOKON - Psychosocial and Mental Health in Pediatrics Lab (Author)
  • Verena Fohn-Erhold - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Verena Rosenmayr - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Rita Hansl - , Chair of Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Maximilian Hopfgartner - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Jonathan Fries - , University of Vienna (Author)
  • Carina Schneider - , Childhood Cancer International – Europe (CCI-E) (Author)
  • Kristina Herzog - , Elternhilfe für krebskranke Kinder Leipzig e.V. (Author)
  • Tobias Schellenberg - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Barbara Schönthaler - , Regional Hospital of Bolzano (Author)
  • Nicole Stember - , University of Duisburg-Essen (Author)
  • Iris Lein-Köhler - , Saarland University (Author)
  • Rahel Hoffmann - , Leipzig University (Author)
  • Alina Kollmann - , Kepler University Hospital (Author)
  • Nicole Salzmann - , University of Münster (Author)
  • Stefanie Essl - , University of Salzburg (Author)
  • Katharina Pal-Handl - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Verena Wasinger-Brandweiner - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Sarah Rinner - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Lisa Schubert - , University of Würzburg (Author)
  • Sandra Lange - , University Hospital Frankfurt (Author)
  • Ulrike Leiss - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)

Abstract

Pediatric cancer is one of the most burdensome chronic diseases, necessitating a variety of severe medical interventions. As a result, the disease and its treatment cause numerous acute and long-term medical, psychological, and socioeconomic strains for young patients and their families. Therefore, psychosocial care using evidence-based interventions (EBIs) before, during, and after medical treatments is essential to ensure that patients receive adequate information and to minimize the adverse emotional and psychosocial impacts such as insecurity, fear, and shame. The present study reports the first promising results of applying cancer-specific psychosocial methods developed in the quality improvement project “My Logbook.” The four assessed tools are specifically designed to adequately prepare pediatric cancer patients for surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and stem cell transplantation. Self and proxy ratings were used to assess the patients’ subjective knowledge and emotional well-being before and after each intervention session. The results showed that patient-centered interventions using various creative and developmentally adapted methodologies (e.g., psychoeducation, crafting, games) have the potential to effectively enhance patient health literacy (V = 120.5, p <.001, r = 0.33) and well-being as manifested in more positive (slope = 0.121, p =.016) and less negative (slope = − 0.350, p <.001) or neutral emotions (slope = − 0.202, p =.002). These findings highlight the importance of developing and implementing psychosocial tools in pediatric oncology to prevent psychological overload and negative emotions and to increase subjective control beliefs, autonomy, and empowerment. Moreover, the effective application and systematic evaluation of evidence-based psychosocial tools can facilitate the establishment of standardized guidelines for psychosocial care in pediatric oncology. Thereby, the final goal is to ensure the quality of care and to use education to increase the quality of life for all pediatric cancer patients. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov

Details

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of cancer education
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 7 Aug 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 39107671
ORCID /0000-0003-2902-0171/work/173517183

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Cancer education, Evidence-based interventions, Feasibility, Implementation research, Pediatric oncology, Psychosocial care, Quality of care