BackgroundThe principals of therapeutic recreation underpin a camping program for children and adolescents living with chronic disease. This study aimed to evaluate the campers' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before and after the program.MethodWe used the Hungarian version of Kidscreen-52 questionnaire to assess HRQoL. The study sample (n = 115) consisted of children and adolescents aged 10-18 (Mean Age: 13,34; SD: 2,20) collected two months before and two months after camp with the following illnesses: oncology patients (n = 32), diabetes (n = 55) and juvenile immune arthritis (JIA) (n = 28). Repeated measures of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) evaluated pre and post camp changes. We used the Reliable Change Index (RCI) to calculate all the 10 subscales of clinically significant changes.ResultsThe Self-perception subscale showed significant positive change from pre camp to post camp with small effect size. Autonomy scores showed time related decline as well as significant time and age group interaction: children under 14 years of age showed a significant moderate effect size decrease on the Autonomy subscale. 32 children (27.8%) showed clinically significant improvement (RCI > 1.96) at least on one subscale. All positive changes were independent of the type of disease, age, gender, and previous camp experience.ConclusionThe therapeutic recreation camping program had a positive impact on HRQoL of children and adolescents living with cancer, diabetes mellitus and JIA. The experience enhanced their self-perception in all age groups and reduced the autonomy of children under 14 years of age. This study is an innovative use of the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire to measure the outcome effectiveness of a psychosocial rehabilitation program and to assess and compare HRQoL of children living with different chronic diseases.

Examinations of illness perceptions among paediatric cancer patients and their families are essential in designing psychosocial interventions for these families. The clinical value of our results can help better understand the cancer-specific features of illness perceptions.

Children with medulloblastoma (MB) are predisposed for negative cognitive sequela, which has been widely identified in this population. The purpose of the present study was to explore cognitive deficits and psychopathological symptoms and analyse their relation among MB survivors. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-KID) was administered to 34 MB survivors to measure cognitive functioning and psychopathological symptoms. The MB survivors had lower global IQ (86.41 [79.70-93.13]) compared with the control population mean. We found impaired functioning in all IQ subscales in the MB survivors group, of which processing speed (84.15 [77.71-90.58]) was the most affected. Higher radiation dose and high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue were significantly associated factors for lowered global IQ, while age at diagnosis, sex and time period from diagnosis were not significantly associated. Compulsive disorder, generalised anxiety, separation anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly more prevalent in the MB survivor group than a group of 46 control participants. No correlation was found between the cognitive deficits and the psychopathological symptoms. Our results identify that MB survivors suffer from cognitive and psychopathological impairments, and these could exist independently from each other.

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