Background
Therapeutic advancements over the past 50 years have resulted in
survival rates of over 80% for children diagnosed with cancer in the
US.1 Unfortunately, life-saving therapy is associated
with adverse late effects that may impact survivors long after treatment
ends.2 For many children, treatment includes intensive
regimens that disrupt typical psychosocial development and challenge the
family system in unique ways. Distress among family caregivers often
peaks at diagnosis and has garnered greater attention in the research
literature over the past decade.3 With improved
survival outcomes, efforts to optimize quality of life (QOL), including
neurocognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes, take on increased
importance.
Although most children adapt well to diagnosis and treatment, vulnerable
sub-groups remain. Children at highest risk for short- and long-term
neurobehavioral problems are those with central nervous system (CNS)
tumors, disease that requires CNS-targeted therapy, and children with
pre-existing individual or familial risk factors.4Multiple social and psychological factors (e.g., race/ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, family dynamics, trauma history, etc.) contribute
to psychosocial outcomes and the trajectory of adaptation from diagnosis
to survivorship.5 Members of the Children’s Oncology
Group (COG) Behavioral Science Committee (BSC) are researchers and
clinicians dedicated to examining the psychosocial impact of pediatric
cancer and its treatment, during and after therapy, on children and
their families.