Methods
A convenience sample of patients ≤25 years old undergoing cancer
treatment at the University of Chicago were approached. The University
of Chicago is an urban, quaternary medical center, which serves
racial/ethnically- and socioeconomically-diverse
patients.9 Participants >18 years old
provided informed consent, and participants < 17 years
old completed the study with a parent or primary caregiver. All
questionnaires were completed electronically using a tablet during
clinic appointments.
Demographic, biologic, and behavioral variables were collected through
self-report questionnaires. This included endorsement/denial of chronic
health conditions, mental health issues, and substance misuse. We used
age-stratified measures to assess participant
ACEs.4,10 Participants answered ten dichotomous items
indicating presence/absence of each ACE that potentially occurred prior
to the age of 18, and endorsements were summed to create a final ACE
score. Resilience was assessed using age-stratified measures from the
Resilience Research Centre.11 These measures provide a
categorization of social-ecological resilience based on a summed score:
“Low” (≤62), “Moderate” (63-70), “High” (71-76), or
“Exceptional” (≥77). Lastly, participants completed questionnaires for
study feasibility/acceptability. These assessed their comfort during the
study, sense of privacy, understanding and the clarity of the
instruments, and interest in the topics of ACEs and resilience. It also
asked if they experienced workflow or technical difficulties.
Descriptive statistics characterized demographic, biologic, behavioral
and study feasibility/acceptability data. Two-sample t -tests and
chi-squared tests evaluated differences in demographics, health
behaviors and outcomes, and resilience based on ACEs exposure.