Psychosocial Screening using Pediatric Symptom Checklist in Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Wilma De Leon | Maria Eva I. Jopson | Marilou Abiera
Discipline: medicine by specialism
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Leukemia is the most common malignant neoplasm in childhood, with Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) comprising 71% of cases. Patients undergo intensive course of
treatment and complications, making them at risk for psychosocial difficulties. The Pediatric
Symptom Checklist (PSC) is a validated psychosocial screening tool for the identification of
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral problems in children. It uses subscales to identify
impairments in attention, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors.
OBJECTIVE: To screen the psychosocial status of pediatric patients with ALL using the PSC.
It aimed to correlate a positive PSC score with factors such age, gender, and on-going
chemotherapy.
METHODS: The study design is cross-sectional. Participants were asked to answer the PSC
which is a 35-item questionnaire. Total scores were calculated and interpreted based on set cutoff scores.
RESULTS: A total of 87 patients with ALL were included in the study. The PSC was able to
identify 16 patients (18%) with psychosocial problems. The patients had concerns related to the
internalizing subscale, followed by attention and externalizing subscales. There was no
association between age, sex, duration of diagnosis, and on-going chemotherapy with the
presence of psychosocial issues in patients with ALL.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the prevalence of psychosocial issues in patients with ALL is
16%. Screening patients using the PSC can help in the early detection of psychosocial issues
among children with ALL.
RECOMMENDATIONS: A separate study which focuses on both patients and families‘
psychosocial status is recommended to get an overall picture of the effect of cancer and its
treatment. Screening in several points during the course chemotherapy can also be done in future
studies.
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