Publications by authors named "B J Spiegler"

Background: Childhood cancer survivors face education and employment challenges due to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial effects of the disease and treatments, with few established programs to assist them. The objectives of this study were to describe the implementation of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) to evaluate an educational and vocational counseling program established for survivors of childhood cancer, and analyze patterns of program engagement and client outcomes, stratified by demographic and diagnostic characteristics.

Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort study of childhood cancer survivors who were engaged with the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario's School and Work Transitions Program (SWTP) between January 2015 and December 2018 was utilized.

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Introduction: The objectives of this study were to describe reports of bother for feeling scared or worried among children with cancer and pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients, and to identify factors associated with it.

Methods: We included children receiving cancer treatments who were 8-18 years of age. Three patient types were enrolled: inpatients receiving active cancer treatment, outpatients receiving maintenance acute lymphoblastic leukemia chemotherapy, and outpatients in survivorship.

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Introduction: Cure rates for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have reached an all-time high (>90%); however, neurocognitive difficulties continue to affect quality of life in at least a subset of survivors. There are relatively few quantitative neuroimaging studies in child and adolescent ALL survivors treated with chemotherapy only. Use of different outcome measures or limited sample sizes restrict our ability to make inferences about patterns of brain development following chemotherapy treatment.

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Article Synopsis
  • Descriptive labels for performance test scores in neuropsychological evaluations are inconsistent and lack a universal system, leading to confusion among various stakeholders.
  • Experts convened at a 2018 conference aimed to create standardized qualitative labels for test results and a clear definition of "impairment."
  • The conference resulted in recommendations for uniform application of labels and definitions, with the goal of improving clarity and consistency in neuropsychological reporting.
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Background: Supportive care Prioritization, Assessment and Recommendations for Kids (SPARK) is a web application focused on improving symptom control. It enables pediatric cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients to self-report and track symptoms, and allows healthcare professionals to access guidelines for symptom management. Objective was to determine the feasibility of longitudinal collection of symptom data.

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