Abstract
Background and Aims: A cancer disease during the developmental age can lead to failure to regulate and express emotions with the onset of psychopathology in children. This study aims to: 1. screen children's emotional and social competence and behavioral symptoms during the acute phase of treatment and 2. identify possible associations of these domains with technologic devices use.
Methods: Participants were 24 children with leukemia (13 girls), with an average age of 6.54 years (SD = 2.24), recruited at the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center (University of Padua). They are Caucasian (58.3%) and non-Caucasian Italian speaking (41.7%). Children were assessed with the NEPSY-II theory of mind (TOM) and the Affective Recognition (AR) tests. CBCL and a technological devices use questionnaires were filled in by parents.
Results: Comparing with standardized norms, 25% of these patients attested at a sub-clinical level for TOM and 12.5% for AR, while 29.16% attested at a clinical level for TOM and 50% for AR. In nine children 3-5 years old parents recognized sleep and withdrawal symptoms at a clinical (10.2%) or a subclinical (88.8%) level scores. The remaining children aged 6-10 years showed clinically internalizing (69.23%) and externalising symptoms (30.76%). Pre-school children obtained higher scores than the older ones both in TOM (U = 29; p = 0.01) and in AE (U = 34; p = 0.02) tasks. Spearman bivariate correlations identified a significative negative association between time of tablet use and AE score (rho = -0.61; p = 0.001). Children's time of PC use was significantly associated with their internalization symptoms (rho = 0.75; p= 0.03) in pre-schooler and externalization symptoms (rho = 0,62; p = 0,02) in schooler.
Conclusions: Specific emotive training should be implemented for more at risk children improving the social bounds between children.