Kurtanova Yu.E., Burdukova Yu.A., Shcherbakova A.M., Zorina E.S., Belozerskaya O.V., Lykova N.S., Schukina V.D., Brilliantova A.A. Cognitive, emotional and social characteristics of children of primary school age with cancer

The presence of pediatric oncological conditions creates a special context for child’s development. Among children with cancer, the disease contributes to special negative experiences, a special self-perception, changes relationships with others, causes behavioral disorders, and shapes personality reactions to the disease. Prolonged hospitalization, accompanied by social deprivation, affects all spheres of a child’s mental life: cognitive, personal, emotional, communicative, and motivational. The study analyzed the differences between children with cancer and their peers devoid of chronic somatic ailments. The cognitive status of the children, their level of anxiety, and the degree of social adaptation were assessed. These domains encompass distinct facets of social adaptation, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and social components. This is research involved 47 children aged 7 to 11 years receiving treatment at oncological centers in Moscow. The group of children without chronic somatic diseases consisted of 70 people aged 7 to 11 years attending schools in Moscow. The Burdon Correction Test (child variant) was used to assess the attention concentration efficiency. The "Fourth Extraneous" (verbal variant) methodology was employed for the assessment of verbal-logical thinking. Short-term and long-term memory were assessed using «10-word» method. To assess anxiety levels, The Children's Form of Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS) was used, which contains social desirability and anxiety subscales. Assessment of the degree of children's socialization was conducted using a methodology developed by M.I. Rozhkov, comprising subscales of social adaptability, autonomy, social activity, and adherence to humanistic norms. We found that children with cancer demonstrate a systematic cognitive decline in terms of verbal-logical thinking, attention concentration and memory, alongside decrease in social activity and social adaptation. Analysis of the results of the assessment of social interaction revealed that children with oncological illnesses tend to proffer socially desirable responses when evaluating their anxiety in the absence of increased anxiety as such. Negative relations between anxiety and social desirability and short-term memory, as well as positive relations between autonomy and memory, were obtained. The results obtained indicate that the development of measures for the social reintegration of children with cancer, necessitates a comprehensive approach that encompasses social, emotional, and cognitive components.

Key words: children with cancer, memory, anxiety, social desirability, socialization

For citation: Kurtanova, Yu.E., Burdukova, Yu.A., Shcherbakova, A.M., Zorina, E.S., Belozerskaya, O.V., Lykova, N.S., Schukina, V.D., Brilliantova A.A. (2023). Cognitive, emotional and social characteristics of children of primary school age with cancer. New Psychological Research, No. 3, 108–126. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2023_03_03_06

Acknowledgment 

The study was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated 06.02.2023 No. 073-00038-23-05 «Social and educational reintegration of children with cancer after long-term treatment».