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Abstract

Parent and teacher feedback indicate some level of psychosocial and behavioral morbidity for adolescents treated for a brain tumor; this finding contrasts with adolescent Self-Report indicating no difficulties in behavioral and psychosocial functioning. The extent to which these vulnerabilities impact quality of life and the discrepancy between reporters should be assessed in follow-up studies with a larger cohort of patients.

Anxiety Among Adolescent Survivors of Pediatric Cancer

“…Twenty (83%) articles were quantitative studies(11, 12, 17–34), one (4%) was qualitative(35), and three (13%) utilized a mixed-methods approach(10, 36, 37). The three mixed-methods studies, the qualitative study, and 17 of the quantitative studies(10, 17–21, 23–37) were cross-sectional, descriptive studies, and three of the quantitative studies were longitudinal intervention studies(11, 12, 22). Of the quantitative studies, three of the cross-sectional studies(10, 17, 19) utilized samples from one of the included intervention studies(11), one intervention study(22) utilized a sample from a broader intervention study(38), and two cross-sectional studies(29, 30) utilized the same sample.…”

“…Eleven studies utilized self-report questionnaires or diagnostic interviews to assess PTSD/PTSS(10–12, 17–19, 23, 24, 28–30), nine studies included self-report questionnaires to assess symptoms of anxiety(11, 12, 20, 25, 29, 30, 32–34), and one study utilized a semi-structured interview to assess anxiety(35). One study utilized a multi-informant measure of child/adolescent behavior and self-perceptions that included adolescent, parent, and teacher reports(21). Four studies included multiple measures of PTSD/PTSS(10, 12, 23, 24), and two studies assessed both PTSD/PTSS and anxiety(11, 12).…”

“…Of these, seven (29%) satisfied all nine indicators(11, 17, 18, 25, 29–31). Eight (33%) were only missing one of nine quality indicators(10, 19, 21, 26–28, 33, 34), with the majority of these studies not specifying whether the participants were representative of the population from which they were recruited. Four studies (17%) were missing two of nine quality indicators(5, 22, 24, 32).…”

“…However, Servitzoglou and colleagues(33) did not find significant differences between survivors and healthy peers on state or trait anxiety. Adolescent survivors of brain tumors did not experience more anxiety than the sample upon which the Behavioral Assessment System for Children was normed, as per self, parent, and teacher reports(21). Pendley and colleagues found that adolescent survivors with varying diagnoses reported similar levels of social anxiety to healthy peers(32).…”

Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors

“…16-17-21 In fact, in our past research and that of others, brain tumor survivors rate their emotional HRQOL worse than their parents do and worse than their physical HRQOL. 22, 23 As these survivors transition to adolescence, young adulthood, and beyond, emotional functioning can significantly limit school, vocational, and social functioning and self-care ability.…”