Abstract
BackgroundCancer diagnosis in childhood or adolescence impacts significantly on school attendance, experience and educational outcomes. While there is longstanding recognition in clinical practice that these effects span the whole illness trajectory and continue beyond treatment completion, further clarity is required on the specific barriers and facilitators to education during cancer treatment and beyond, as well as on the experiences of children and adolescents across the full range of education settings (hospital, home, virtual, original school of enrolment), in order to determine which interventions are successful in improving access and experience from their perspective. The aim of this review is to identify what is known from the existing literature about access to and experience of education for children and adolescents with cancer during and post treatment.MethodsWe have planned a scoping literature review searching the following databases from inception onwards: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase and Embase Classic, Web of Science Core Collection, Education Resources Index, Sociological s, APA PsycINFO, SCOPUS, CINAHL Plus, Emcare and The Cochrane Library. In addition, DARE, conference abstracts, key journals, and institutional websites will be searched. Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step process will be followed, including a consultation exercise. Studies, reports and policies from any country providing care and treatment for children and adolescents with cancer published in English will be considered eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers will independently screen all citations, full-text articles and abstract data. A narrative summary of findings will be conducted. Data analysis will involve quantitative (e.g., frequencies) and qualitative (e.g., content and thematic analysis) methods.DiscussionThis is a timely examination given the increased incidence of childhood cancer, more intensive treatment regimens and improved survival rates for childhood cancer. The inclusion of a substantive consultation exercise with families and professionals will provide an important opportunity to examine the scoping review outputs. Findings will assist the childhood cancer community in developing a comprehensive evidence-based understanding of a significant associated bio-psychosocial impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment and will form the first step towards developing effective interventions and policies to mitigate identified detrimental effects.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Framework (osf/io/yc4wt)
Highlights
Cancer diagnosis in childhood or adolescence impacts significantly on school attendance, experience and educational outcomes
There has been widespread recognition of the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment on educational attainment, with studies documenting that survivors perform less well overall [3, 8]
A recent systematic review drew attention to the association between educational attainment, emotional well-being and economic security, as an imperative for actioning educational support for survivors [9]. Their results indicated that a longstanding focus on the under-performance and need for additional educational support for children with central nervous system (CNS) disease and or directed treatment has potentially led to less recognition of the educational challenges for all types of childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment [9]
Summary
Cancer diagnosis in childhood or adolescence impacts significantly on school attendance, experience and educational outcomes. The aim of this review is to identify what is known from the existing literature about access to and experience of education for children and adolescents with cancer during and post treatment. A recent systematic review drew attention to the association between educational attainment, emotional well-being and economic security, as an imperative for actioning educational support for survivors [9]. Their results indicated that a longstanding focus on the under-performance and need for additional educational support for children with central nervous system (CNS) disease and or directed treatment has potentially led to less recognition of the educational challenges for all types of childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment [9]. The studies identified in the review drew on retrospective data for survivors treated over a significant timespan (1940–2009) which encompass significant changes in treatment protocols, prognosis and associated morbidity for many types of childhood cancer
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