Clinical trial · Observational
A Qualitative Case Study of the Experiences of Children With Cancer as They Learn About Their Diagnosis and Treatment
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Thousands of children are diagnosed with cancer each year, many of whom will achieve long term survival due to advances in treatments and technologies. However, when a child is first diagnosed, they are confronted with a wealth of new and unfamiliar medical information that they must integrate in order to understand their diagnosis and treatment plan. Little is yet known about how children with cancer experience learning about their diagnosis and treatment in the hospital setting, or the individuals and materials that may help to facilitate the child's developing understanding. This information could help to identify or guide educational and supportive child life interventions to help children with cancer better understand their illness and its treatment. This observational study will collect data about how children currently learn about their cancer diagnosis and treatment in the hospital setting. The interventions used do not seek to change the health outcomes of the participants in this study. The observational data collected may serve to improve how future patients learn about their cancer-related diagnosis.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarcoma | Sarcoma | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.98 |
Interventions
Interventions (3)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Activities | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Interview | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Observations | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (1)
- label
- Participants
- description
- Patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital between the ages of 7 and 11 years who have a working diagnosis or initial diagnosis of a bone or soft tissue sarcoma. Interventions: two unstructured life-story interview sessions, observations, and guided activities.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Interview
- Behavioral: Observations
- Behavioral: Guided Activities
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Case study of the ways in which children with cancer learn about their diagnosis and treatment in the hospital setting
- timeFrame
- Observations collected from diagnosis through 6 months
- description
- Data will be collected during individual interviews, guided activity sessions, and observations of participant clinic appointments, inpatient admissions, and other medical events. Because there are no hypotheses to be tested or evaluated, and because this is a qualitative study, no statistical analyses will be used. Instead, coding and categorizing techniques will be used as are common in multiple case study designs. Data analysis in this study will occur constantly and simultaneously alongside data collection and interpretation. Data sources will be analyzed between and within participants using multiple case study analysis. Contextualizing analysis will be used to construct a thematic analysis.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 7 Years
- Maximum age
- 11 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * The child is between the ages of 7 and 11 years on the day of their initial arrival to the hospital * The child has a working diagnosis or initial diagnosis of a bone or soft tissue sarcoma that will require multimodal therapy to include chemotherapy, plus or minus surgical resection, plus or minus radiation therapy. * Both the child and parents speak English as their primary language * Parents are willing to give consent and child is willing to give assent Exclusion Criteria: * The child has a pre-existing, documented learning disability or cognitive impairment and has previously received learning accommodations under an individualized education plan (IEP). * The child has a pre-existing, documented diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (including autism and Asperger's disorder). * Child has previously received treatment for a cancer diagnosis either at St. Jude or another institution. * Parent and/or child are unwilling or unable to give consent/assent.
References
Publications (0)
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