Educational Achievement and Adaptive Functioning in Survivors of Childhood Cancer
Date
2024-06-27
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Abstract
Many more survivors of childhood cancer are surviving and thriving today. In Canada, there are approximately 30,000 survivors, and treatment advances have helped to improve survival rates. However, survivors still face challenges that arise after treatment completion. Examples of challenges include difficulties with behavioral or emotional regulation as well as impaired attention and cognitive functioning. These challenges affect broader functional outcomes such as lower adaptive functioning and lower rates of completing higher education. Thus, in this thesis I aimed to summarize the current literature in adaptive functioning and educational outcomes (i.e., reading, writing, and math) and to examine these factors in survivors of childhood cancer (SCC). Chapter 1 of my thesis is a brief introduction about childhood cancer, education achievement, and the factors that affect educational achievement in SCC. Chapter 2 provides a literature review on pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-central nervous system solid tumors (non-CNS ST), late effects of cancer treatment, educational outcomes and adaptive functioning in ALL, non-CNS ST, and brain tumors (BT). Chapters 3 and 4 of my thesis have been prepared for publication and address four primary aims across these manuscripts. Chapter 3 aimed to examine group differences in adaptive functioning among pediatric survivors of ALL, non-CNS ST, BT, and healthy controls (HC). The second aim of this manuscript was to explore whether age at diagnosis, male sex, and lower socioeconomic status predicted lower adaptive functioning. Chapter 4 aimed to examine group differences on the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-5) between survivors of ALL and non-CNS ST and to examine the association between conceptual skills and WRAT-5 outcomes.
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Keywords
Pediatric, Psychosocial Oncology
Citation
Stokoe, M. (2024). Educational achievement and adaptive functioning in survivors of childhood cancer (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.