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Purpose: Perceiving favourable changes from one's illness may go hand in hand with experiencing harmful psychosocial effects. Each of these constructs should be considered when examining children's levels of psychological adjustment following stressful life events. A paediatric instrument that accounts for both positive and negative impact of stressful events has not been investigated in The Netherlands before. The aim of the study was to investigate psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Benefit and Burden Scale for Children (BBSC), a 20-item questionnaire that intends to measure potential benefit and burden of illness in children., Methods: Dutch paediatric survivors of childhood cancer aged 8-18 (N = 77) completed the BBSC and other psychological questionnaires: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (health-related quality of life), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (anxiety), Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (posttraumatic stress) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (behavioural functioning). Reliability and validity were evaluated., Results: Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha, benefit 0.84, burden 0.72), test-retest reliability (benefit r = 0.74, burden r = 0.78) and homogeneity (mean inter-item correlation, benefit r = 0.34, burden r = 0.22) were satisfactory. Burden was associated with HRQoL (-), anxiety (+), posttraumatic stress symptoms (+) and behavioural problems. Benefit did not correlate with the psychological outcomes., Conclusions: The Dutch version of the BBSC shows promising psychometric properties. Perceived benefit and disease-related burden are distinct constructs; both should be considered when examining children's psychological adjustment to potentially traumatic experiences. The BBSC may be useful as monitoring and screening instrument.

Background: Childhood cancer and its treatment have considerable impact on a child's physical and mental wellbeing. Especially long-term administration of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy impairs physical fitness both during and after therapy, when children often present with muscle weakness and/or low cardiorespiratory fitness. Physical exercise can improve these two elements of physical fitness, but the positive effects of physical exercise might be further increased when a child's wellbeing is simultaneously enhanced by psychosocial training. Feeling better may increase the willingness and motivation to engage in sports activities. Therefore, this multi-centre study evaluates the short and long-term changes in physical fitness of a child with a childhood malignancy, using a combined physical exercise and psychosocial intervention program, implemented during or shortly after treatment. Also examined is whether positive effects on physical fitness reduce inactivity-related adverse health problems, improve quality of life, and are cost-effective., Methods: This multi-centre randomized controlled trial compares a combined physical and psychosocial intervention program for children with cancer, with care as usual (controls). Children with cancer (aged 8-18 years) treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, and who are no longer than 1 year post-treatment, are eligible for participation. A total of 100 children are being recruited from the paediatric oncology/haematology departments of three Dutch university medical centres. Patients are stratified according to pubertal stage (girls: age ≤10 or >10 years; boys: ≤11 or >11 years), type of malignancy (haematological or solid tumour), and moment of inclusion into the study (during or after treatment), and are randomly assigned to the intervention or control group., Discussion: Childhood cancer patients undergoing long-term cancer therapy may benefit from a combined physical exercise and psychosocial intervention program since it may maintain or enhance their physical fitness and increase their quality of life. However, the feasibility, patient need, and effectiveness of such a program should be established before the program can be implemented as part of standard care., Trial Registration Number: NTR1531 (The Netherlands National Trial Register).

Purpose: The objective of the study is to explore psychosexual functioning and its relationship with quality of life in survivors of cancer in childhood., Methods: Sixty childhood cancer survivors completed two questionnaires: psychosexual and social functioning questionnaire and MOS-SF-36., Results: Psychosexual problems were frequent. About 20% of the survivors felt a limitation in their sexual life due to their illness. Older survivors (> or =25 years) had significantly less experience with sexual intercourse than their age-matched peers in the Dutch population (p = 0.010). Survivors treated in adolescence had a delay in achieving psychosexual milestones compared with those treated in childhood: dating (p<0.025), touching under clothes (p<0.025), masturbation (female) (p<0.05) and sexual intercourse (p<0.025). No differences were found for sexual fantasies, kissing, masturbation (male) and oral sex. The total survivor group appraised their quality of life as less positive than their Dutch peers for the subscales of general and mental health (both p<0.001), physical and social functioning (p<0.01; p<0.001), bodily pain and vitality (both p<0.001). However, quality of life was not more affected adversely in survivors with psychosexual problems compared with survivors without these problems., Conclusion: In this cohort of childhood cancer survivors, psychosexual problems were frequent. Treatment in adolescence is a risk factor for a delay in psychosexual development., ((c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)