School and educational support programmes for paediatric oncology patients and survivors: A systematic review of evidence and recommendations for future research and practice.

OBJECTIVES: The Psychosocial Standards of Care (PSSC) in paediatric oncology prescribe the minimum standards for education support. It is unknown, however, if published education support programmes for children with cancer meet the PSSC standards for education support. Successful implementation of standards for education support is challenging but may be achieved with guidance. We aimed to (1) review education support programmes for childhood cancer patients and survivors against the PSSC standards and (2) provide practical recommendations for future research and implementation of education support programmes. METHODS: We searched PsycINFO, PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Educational Resources Information and Center databases. We reviewed the education support programmes using five evaluation criteria derived from the PSSC and summarised the structure of identified programmes. We examined the features and limitations of programmes that met all evaluation criteria. RESULTS: We identified 20 education support programmes in paediatric oncology, including peer programmes (n = 3), teacher programmes (n = 5), and school re-entry programmes (SRPs n = 12). We found that three SRPs met all evaluation criteria and that SRP components were timed according to the child's position on the cancer trajectory (e.g., diagnosis and treatment, school re-entry, and follow up throughout schooling). The supporting evidence of the programmes, however, is unclear due to the lack of adequately designed studies. CONCLUSIONS: SRPs provide a promising structure for future education support programmes. We recommend strategies for developing and evaluating education support that adheres to the PSSC and adapts to international and local contexts.

School students with chronic illness have unmet academic, social, and emotional school needs.

Students with chronic illness generally have higher school needs than their healthy peers. The research to date examining school support for these needs has been limited to qualitative methods. We collected quantitative data to compare the school needs and supports received by 192 students with chronic illness and 208 students without chronic illness using parent-completed surveys. We assessed school experiences and receipt of school support across academic, social-emotional, and medical domains and school attendance. We analyzed the data using logistic regression. Students with chronic illness were 3.8 times more likely to have repeated a grade, 3.6 times more likely to have parent-reported academic challenges, and 4.9 times more likely to have recent illness-related school absenteeism than healthy students. Parents of students with chronic illness were 2.2 times more likely to report their child to have moderate-high emotional distress, and 4.6 times more likely to report that their child had low social confidence compared with parents of healthy students. Students with chronic illness did not receive more school-based tutoring, home-based tutoring, or support from a teacher's aide or school psychologist than healthy students. Students with chronic illness receive insufficient support to address their academic and social-emotional needs or high rates of school absenteeism. Evidence-based educational services must be developed and delivered to meet the needs of students with chronic illness at school and while recovering at home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Facilitating engagement with school in students with chronic illness through positive education: A mixed-methods comparison study.

Students with chronic illness may disengage from school, adversely affecting their school outcomes. Positive education targets students' social-emotional well-being (school well-being), which can increase engagement with school. We compared the relationship among positive educational practices, school well-being, and engagement with school as reported by parents of students with and without chronic illness. We used a convergent mixed-methods cross-sectional design. We collected data from 215 parents of school-age children with chronic illness and 212 parents of children without chronic illness. Data assessed positive educational practices, school well-being, and engagement with school, which we analyzed using regression and structural equation models. Forty-nine parents of students with chronic illness completed a telephone interview about their child's school experiences, which we analyzed using content analysis. School well-being was significantly lower among students with chronic illness, compared with students without chronic illness (p = .05). Higher student well-being (p ≤ .001) and higher levels of positive educational practices (p = .002) were associated with higher engagement with school. School well-being mediated the relationship between positive educational practices and engagement with school for students with chronic illness but not students without chronic illness. Parents of children with chronic illness described how positive educational practices and their child's school well-being promoted their child's engagement with school. Parents also reported the negative consequences of low school well-being. Positive educational practices alone may not be sufficient to increase engagement with school in students with low school well-being. Combined preventative and early intervention psychosocial support may best promote engagement with school in students with chronic illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).