Social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in young childhood cancer survivors with chronic health conditions

Background The cancer diagnosis and its intensive treatment may affect the long‐term psycho‐social adjustment of childhood cancer survivors. We aimed to describe social, emotional, and behavioral functioning and their determinants in young childhood cancer survivors. Procedure The nationwide Swiss C...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pediatric blood & cancer 2022-09, Vol.69 (9), p.e29756-n/a
Main Authors: Mader, Luzius, Sláma, Tomáš, Schindera, Christina, Rössler, Jochen, Weid, Nicolas X, Belle, Fabiën N, Kuehni, Claudia E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
behavior
Cancer
Childhood
childhood cancer
Children
Chronic illnesses
cohort
Diagnosis
difficulties
Emotional behavior
Health care
Hematology
Hyperactivity
Oncology
Pediatrics
Social interactions
strengths
survivorship
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Summary:Background The cancer diagnosis and its intensive treatment may affect the long‐term psycho‐social adjustment of childhood cancer survivors. We aimed to describe social, emotional, and behavioral functioning and their determinants in young childhood cancer survivors. Procedure The nationwide Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study sends questionnaires to parents of survivors aged 5–15 years, who have survived at least 5 years after diagnosis. We assessed social, emotional, and behavioral functioning using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The SDQ includes four difficulties scales (emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, peer problems), a total difficulties indicator, and one strength scale (prosocial). We compared the proportion of survivors with borderline and abnormal scores to reference values and used multivariable logistic regression to identify determinants. Results Our study included 756 families (response rate of 72%). Thirteen percent of survivors had abnormal scores for the total difficulties indicator compared to 10% in the general population. The proportion of survivors with abnormal scores was highest for the emotional scale (15% vs. 8% in the general population), followed by the peer problems scale (14% vs. 7%), hyperactivity (8% vs. 10%), and conduct scale (6% vs. 7%). Few survivors (4% vs. 7%) had abnormal scores on the prosocial scale. Children with chronic health conditions had a higher risk of borderline and abnormal scores on all difficulties scales (all p 
ISSN:1545-5009
1545-5017
DOI:10.1002/pbc.29756