Pilot study of a novel early cognitive intervention for children receiving proton radiation therapy
| dc.contributor.author | Brunet, Philippe | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Macoun, Sarah | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-30T22:15:00Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-30T22:15:00Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Psychology | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Science MSc | |
| dc.description.abstract | Radiation therapy poses a significant risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes (NDOs), such as attention and executive function (A/EF) deficits in young children. As such, the current study assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a novel A/EF intervention, Dino Island (DI), among three children (age 7) receiving proton radiation therapy (PRT) for central nervous system (CNS) tumours. DI was delivered 1:1 at Mayo Clinic Rochester by a trained psychometrist (i.e., the interventionist) during the six-week active PRT phase. Feasibility was defined as the proportion of completed intervention sessions, while preliminary efficacy was assessed via cognitive testing and parent behavioural rating scales. Specifically, the testing schedule comprised a comprehensive baseline assessment, brief weekly testing probes during the intervention, a comprehensive post-intervention assessment and follow-up testing one month later. Results presented evidence supporting the potential feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the DI intervention. Indeed, DI may have the potential to mitigate the impact of radiation on certain cognitive domains and perhaps even enact cognitive gains. Crucially, findings support the feasibility of implementing DI during active PRT and provide a foundation for future large-scale randomized clinical trials. Future work should focus on recruiting a large sample to evaluate DI's impact across diverse populations and gathering longitudinal data. | |
| dc.description.embargo | 2025-08-13 | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20350 | |
| dc.language | English | eng |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.subject | pediatric brain tumour | |
| dc.subject | proton radiation therapy | |
| dc.subject | cognitive rehabilitation | |
| dc.title | Pilot study of a novel early cognitive intervention for children receiving proton radiation therapy | |
| dc.type | Thesis |