The Hidden Stress of Cancer: Reinterpreting pediatric oncology within the Lifecourse Health Development Model

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Health, Growth, Injury

Abstract

This project will articulate an integrative framework for understanding two fields of study: developmental research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and maladaptive stress responses in pediatric cancer survivors (PCS). The literature of developmental science has identified adverse childhood experience as a pervasive predictor of a range of health and adjustment outcomes in later development, while the stress load that attends children’s cancer treatment is a significant factor that complicates treatment outcomes and longer-term adjustment in social, psychological, and physiological modalities. The literature on ACEs and PCSs has evolved along disparate tracts although the possibility of deep integration informed by neuroanatomical adaptation similarities promises new possibilities for building powerful theory, research and intervention. Conceptualizing pediatric cancer as an adverse childhood experience folds pediatric oncology into a lifespan perspective as informed by the Lifecourse Health Development Model. Following this new consideration, future pediatric oncology practice will gain from the ACE literatures and better nurture developing patients through trauma-informed onboarding processes, novel screening techniques, and additional support measures for post-survival care. Together, these advances will begin to usher in a new, wholistic, era of oncology practice better suited to the full health of the patient.

Author

• Alex F Nisbet, University of Notre Dame
  Presenting Author