Self-Reported Executive Dysfunction, Fatigue, and Psychological and Emotional Symptoms in Physically Well-Functioning Long-Term Survivors of Pediatric Brain Tumor

Abstract

Completing this thesis has been one of most arduous ordeals I have taken on, but also one of the most educational, satisfying, and now at the end of it all, liberating, empowering and relieving experiences I might ever have had. The relief of completing is most likely not only felt by me; I imagine several people around me may feel somewhat relieved themselves to see that I finally reached the finish line. Parallel to working on this thesis, these years since I first started have been the most eventful of my life, both good and bad. I lost a father, but gained the two great loves of my life; my daughters, Eira and Frida. These two little girls have no doubt largely contributed to keeping me sane throughout this process, and have reminded me along the way of what really matters. The same must be said for Vegard; I am profoundly thankful for your patience, support, and for being my rock in all our years together. Thank you. And to my family and friends, thank you all for your kind, supportive words and understanding. I would like to thank one person in particular who has been of invaluable support to me in all things that matter; my friend, colleague and co-author, Anne-Britt Skarbø. I cannot express how much I appreciate how you have encouraged and cheered me on throughout this long process, in moments when I needed it the most. A very special thank you also to cocheerleader and former colleague, Torhild Berntsen, a strong and inspiring advocate for children with acquired brain injury, who initiated the idea of a study investigating long-term functioning in survivors of childhood brain tumor, and who has believed in this study ever since. I am very proud to present the final product of this study! This is all my own product; from forming the idea for the project, to achieving funding, collecting data, and finally, reporting findings. However, none of this could have been achieved without my team players. First of all, to my main supervisor, Stein Andersson. Stein, you have been the ideal supervisor in my view; knowledgeable, steadfast, straightforward, encouraging, easy going, providing clarity and a dash of pragmatism, and calming my nerves in a moment or two of frustration. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this endeavor! Also, a special thank you to my cosupervisors, Ellen Ruud and Arnstein Finset. To Ellen, for immediately believing in and contributing to the project from the beginning, and for guiding me through the jungle that it is to implement a clinical study, and to Arnstein, for sharing your valuable academic experience and insights.

The Effectiveness of Current Interventions to Reverse the Underachievement of Gifted Students: Findings of a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

“…Regarding psychosocial outcomes, a total of 44 specific outcomes under 18 different names appeared in eight of the 10 quantitative studies. The 44 specific outcomes were further coded into five relatively broad categories: (1) academic self-efficacy, referring to students' self-perceived confidence to tackle new learning tasks, improve skills, or grasp course materials (Bandura, 1997); (2) goal valuation, regarding whether students value a learning task and find it meaningful enough to do the work (Siegle, 2013); (3) environmental perceptions, concerning how students feel about the atmosphere of their environments, such as finding teachers to be supportive or feeling insecure around other classmates (Siegle et al, 2017); (4) self-regulation/ motivation as a psychosocial outcome category encompassing activities, beliefs, or behaviors relevant to self-regulated learning or achievement motivation (McCoach & Siegle, 2003a); and (5) psychosocial functioning, referring to a variety of mental, social, or emotional states or experiences, such as anxiety, depression, self-consciousness, distress, loneliness, feeling of belonging, or learned helplessness (Puhr et al, 2019;Ziolkowski et al, 2019).…”

Social attainment in physically well-functioning long-term survivors of pediatric brain tumour; the role of executive dysfunction, fatigue, and psychological and emotional symptoms

“…Self-reported executive dysfunction, fatigue, and psychological and emotional symptoms in physically well-functioning long-term survivors of pediatric brain tumor (Puhr et al, 2019a).…”

Neurocognitive Outcomes in Children with Brain Tumors

“…20,28,29 One large case-control study out of Norway identified that brain tumor survivors show clear deficits across emotional control, task initiation, working memory, organization, self-monitoring, and task monitoring. 30 Furthermore, memory issues have been identified in cohorts of brain tumor survivors, ranging from poor performance in recall to recognition to immediate memory. 29,31 Deficits in attention and processing speed are also common.…”