SCHOOL REENTRY OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH A BRAIN TUMOR: CAN WE IMPROVE FAMILY-SCHOOLHOSPITAL COOPERATION? AN ANALYSIS OF SUPPORTIVE AND INHIBITING FACTORS AS A RESULT OF A PILOT PROJECT

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: School reentry support focusing on providing information to schools and communication between patient/family-hospital-school is defined as a psychosocial standard of care in pediatric oncology (Thompson et al., 2015). This is critical for students with brain tumors (BT) - although it is not yet universally implemented - especially during follow-up, as they are a risk group for late effects. Due to long distances between family-hospitalschool, limited personnel capacities and since 2020 Covid-19 restrictions, an online-event (OE) for teachers from external schools was designed, with the aim of (1) strengthening cooperation, (2) breaking down barriers and (3) increasing level of knowledge. METHODS: 54 teachers participated in each of two OEs. Content was presented by an interdisciplinary team (clinician, clinical/neuropsychologist, social worker, teacher), followed by time for sharing experience. Two months after event 2, participants were asked to complete an evaluation in an anonymous online survey. Supportive and inhibiting factors for successful school reintegration were included in the survey and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: 54% of 23 respondents (70% teaching > 10 years) felt that their training before the event did not prepare them adequately for a teaching setting with seriously ill children (1-3 points on a 10-point Likert-scale). 92% rated their knowledge greater after the event. All interdisciplinary inputs were rated very useful and practical (79-88% 8-10 points). 38% felt relieved to got to know contact persons. 33% rated teaching a student with BT as fundamentally challenging and felt more confident after the event. CONCLUSION: The results of this pilot project indicate that an online-information-event can increase knowledge and cooperation. Resulting promoting and inhibiting factors for school reintegration will be incorporated into future concept improvement. The findings further highlight the great importance of ongoing support in the form of a reintegration teacher and interdisciplinary input for schools to appropriately support students with BT.