Psychosocial & Survivorship
Theme Co-leads:
Leandra Desjardins, Vicky Forster, Lindsay Jibb, Paul Nathan, Sapna Oberoi, Fiona Schulte and Chantale Thurston
In the last decade, much progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of childhood cancers. However, the growing population of pediatric cancer survivors calls for a need to focus on improving and optimizing the quality of survivorship, as some may experience disease or treatment related late effects that require monitoring and early intervention.
The aim of the Psychosocial & Survivorship research theme is to advance the wellbeing and quality of life of patients, survivors, and their families through the identification, prevention, and management of long-term physical, emotional and/or cognitive effects of disease and treatment.
Priorities
- Establish guidelines for psychosocial health screening during the cancer trajectory.
- Better monitoring and management of late effects in childhood cancer survivors.
- Identification and implementation of comprehensive measures to assess patient-reported psychosocial health outcomes in children and families.
- Develop and implement an evidence-informed tool for children and adolescent cancer survivors such as the Passport for Care.
- Develop an online repository of tools and resources to share information of cancer treatments, help with symptom management and survivorship care.