Educational Interventions for the Timely Diagnosis of Pediatric Patients With Cancer: A Scoping Review

The timely diagnosis and referral of children with cancer have been identified as a priority for pediatric oncology. Despite the prominence of timely detection educational interventions, scant data exist on the approach and efficacy of these trainings.

For this scoping review, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and SciELO were searched to identify studies reporting on educational interventions for the timely detection of pediatric patients with cancer.

Our search yielded 5,682 studies, and 29 met the inclusion criteria. These studies captured experiences from 20 countries. Interventions were most frequently conducted in person (12 of 29, 41.4%), with varying formats including workshops (10 of 29, 34.5%), multiday courses (5 of 29, 17.2%), and lectures (4 of 29, 13.7%). Seven studies (24.1%) reported the use of supplementary materials such as job aids, posters, or flyers. Interventions focused on increasing recognition of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancers (25 of 29, 86.2%), whereas some addressed referral practices (11 of 29, 37.9%). Audiences were varied, but included physicians (23 of 29, 79.3%) most often. Most studies (28 of 29, 96.6%) evaluated the impact or outcomes of their educational interventions. Most studies assessing the impact reported the number of participants trained (23 of 29, 79.3%). Knowledge assessment was conducted immediately in 11 studies (37.9%). Additional outcomes included the number of patient referrals (9 of 29, 31.0%), the number of new childhood cancer cases (4 of 29, 13.8%), time to diagnosis (4 of 29, 13.7%), and the stage distribution of cancers at diagnosis (6 of 29, 20.7%).

Our review highlights the potential of educational interventions to improve provider knowledge and referral practices in childhood cancer diagnosis. Yet, current interventions vary widely in scope, content, and outcome measures. Further research is needed to address methodological limitations and ensure that greater awareness yields meaningful improvements in pediatric cancer outcomes worldwide.