Aims of the study
- To evaluate the effectiveness of two different sleep interventions for children, adolescents and young adults during and after childhood cancer treatment.
- To determine psychosocial outcomes in pediatric bone sarcoma patients and survivors.
How is the study executed?
1a. MICADO-2: Patients will be randomized to either the i-Sleep intervention or a waiting-list condition. Participants in the intervention group will receive 5 online sessions over 5-8 weeks. After this, sleep will be assessed with 7-day Actigraph, sleep logs and questionnaires.1b. Sleep professor: We evaluated interactive education on sleep hygiene with a social robot at a pediatric oncology outpatient clinic regarding the feasibility, experiences, and preliminary effectiveness.
2. Patients will be seen for their standard follow-up outpatient clinic with multiple specialists: a (pediatric) oncologist, orthopedic surgeon, radiation oncologist (if applicable), rehabilitation specialist, physical therapist and psychologist. In addition to the provided patient care, patients will be asked to complete questionnaires and physical assessments for research.
Consequences for care
1a. i-Sleep has been shown feasible and effective in adult cancer patients, but it’s unknown if this is the same in adolescents and young adults. By gaining this insight, we hopefully can provide an effective intervention for adolescents and young adults who experience insomnia after surviving childhood cancer.
1b. Supporting families of children with cancer with an educational sleep hygiene intervention is important for improving their knowledge. A social robot could be an appropriate tool, but it has not been previously used for this purpose. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the use of a social robot for interactive sleep hygiene education.
2. With the knowledge of this research, the psychosocial care for pediatric bone sarcoma patients and survivors can be improved.
Research team
Hinke van der Hoek (PhD student), Shosha Peersmann (PhD student), Leonie Tigelaar (PhD student), Prof. Dr. Martha Grootenhuis (Promotor), Dr. Raphaele van Litsenburg (Co-promotor), Dr. Hans Merks (Co-promotor), Dr. Marloes van Gorp and Drs. Laura Beek.
Publications
van Bindsbergen KLA, van der Hoek H, van Gorp M, Ligthart MEU, Hindriks KV, Neerincx MA, Alderliesten T, Bosman PAN, Merks JHM, Grootenhuis MA, van Litsenburg RRL. Interactive Education on Sleep Hygiene with a Social Robot at a Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic: Feasibility, Experiences, and Preliminary Effectiveness. Cancers. 2022; 14(15):3792. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14153792