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Self-report of symptoms in children with cancer younger than 8 years of age: a systematic review

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Abstract

Objective

The study’s objective was to summarize the psychometric evaluation of self-report symptom instruments used in children with cancer younger than 8 years of age.

Methods

We conducted electronic searches of Ovid Medline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, Science Citation, Social Science Citation (Web of Science), and CINAHL. We included studies of children with cancer in which their self-report symptoms had been quantified and in which results were described for those younger than 8 years of age. The search was restricted to publications in English. Two reviewers screened studies and abstracted all data in duplicate. Descriptive analysis of reliability and validity was performed.

Results

Thirteen studies were included. Only one study recruited children <8 years alone. Most studies described reliability and validity in a wider age range cohort in which most children were older than 8 years of age. Of the eight studies that evaluated reliability within the younger age group, six raised concerns about poor internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha <0.7 in at least one dimension. Concerns about test re-test reliability and inter-rater reliability were also observed. None of the studies evaluated validity.

Conclusions

We failed to demonstrate that currently available instruments to measure self-report symptoms are reliable or valid specifically for children with cancer younger than 8 years of age. Development of psychometrically robust instruments for younger children should be a priority.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Tamsin Adams-Webber, Library and Archives Manager, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, for her invaluable assistance with the literature search strategy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, 686 Bay St, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A4, Canada

    D. Tomlinson, L. Tigelaar, S. Hyslop, T. Lazor, L. L. Dupuis & L. Sung

  2. Department of Pharmacy, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada

    L. L. Dupuis

  3. Division of Haematology/Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada

    K. Griener, J. Oliveria & L. Sung

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  1. D. Tomlinson
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Correspondence to D. Tomlinson.

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The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Tomlinson, D., Tigelaar, L., Hyslop, S. et al. Self-report of symptoms in children with cancer younger than 8 years of age: a systematic review. Support Care Cancer 25, 2663–2670 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3740-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3740-6

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