Purpose The purpose of this review was to synthesize current knowledge about anxiety among adolescent survivors of pediatric cancer and highlight areas for future research. Methods Systematic literature searches were conducted in five databases for articles published anytime before December 28, 2015. Manuscripts were reviewed by a team of six coders. Included manuscripts reported outcomes relevant to anxiety, worry, and posttraumatic stress in survivors of pediatric cancer (age at time of study: 10–22 years) who were off-treatment. Results Twenty-five articles met inclusion criteria. Included results were categorized into the following domains: posttraumatic stress, anxiety, cancer-related worry, and interventions. With the exception of posttraumatic stress, there was little research about anxiety in this population; however, studies generally indicated that adolescent survivors of pediatric cancer are at elevated risk for anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and cancer-related worry. Conclusions This review provides preliminary evidence that anxiety is a relevant, but understudied, psychosocial outcome for adolescent survivors of pediatric cancer. More research is needed to better understand the presentation of anxiety in this population, its effect on survivors’ quality of life, and possible areas for intervention.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of childhood cancer survivors living to an old age due to improved cancer treatments. However, these survivors are at risk of numerous late effects as a result of their cancer therapy. Engaging in protective health behaviors and limiting health damaging behaviors are vitally important for these survivors given their increased risks. We reviewed the literature on childhood cancer survivors’ health behaviors by searching for published data and conference proceedings. We examine the prevalence of a variety of health behaviors among childhood cancer survivors, identify significant risk factors, and describe health behavior interventions for survivors.

The incidence of skin, most HPV-related, liver, and lung cancers can be reduced through primary prevention. Morbidity from breast and testicular cancers can be reduced through secondary prevention. Thus, it is important to understand the mechanisms that predict engagement in primary and secondary prevention behaviors for these cancers. We investigated the roles of knowledge of cancer prevention, perceived importance of cancer prevention, and self-efficacy to engage in prevention steps in order to predict college students' actual engagement in cancer prevention behaviors (CPB). Participants were 315 undergraduates who completed an online survey to assess these constructs. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to model knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceived importance as predictors of CPB for a range of cancers. Self-efficacy predicted CPB similarly across all cancers such that having a higher level of self-efficacy to prevent the cancer predicted having engaged in more CPB. Increase in knowledge predicted an increase in the frequency of CPB for skin and HPV-related cancers. Perceived importance of prevention predicted skin cancer CPB. These findings can be used to tailor cancer prevention programs for undergraduates to achieve greatest impact.

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