Results
Approximately 75% of the scheduled psychosocial monitoring and
screening questionnaires were completed during the study period.
Informed consent was provided for 94% of completed questionnaires. In
total, 1644 families of a child with cancer filled out one or more
questionnaires. Samples differed per outcome (Table 1).
Table 2 describes the results on HRQoL and fatigue of children with
cancer in outpatient care and caregiver distress in the pre-COVID-19 and
COVID-19 phases. HRQoL was not different in any of the COVID-19 phases
compared to pre-COVID-19. Children after treatment for cancer between 8
and 18 years reported less fatigue in all phases of the pandemic than
pre-COVID-19, except during the strict lockdown, with the largest
differences on the sleep subscale (β: 0.24-0.33, p<0.013).
Caregivers had lower distress in the first lockdown than pre-COVID-19
(β: 0.23, p<0.007), but the difference dissipated as the
pandemic progressed.