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.