"MyLogbook-I Know My Way Around": A Psychological Therapy Program to Enhance Health Literacy and Positive Emotional...

Severe and chronic illnesses such as an oncological disease in children, adolescents, and young adults (CAYAs) are accompanied by profound physical, psychological, and social challenges for the patients and their families. Consensus- and evidence-based psychosocial standards of care aim to address these challenges but implementation is heterogeneous. The current paper presents the consensus- and evidence-based psychosocial therapy tool "MyLogbook-I know my way around" which aims to operationalize and implement existing guidelines for psychosocial care in pediatric oncology, supporting patients from diagnosis through follow-up care with psychoeducational and emotional resources.

This multi-center pilot study evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of "MyLogbook" in 240 participants (mean age = 9.00, SD = 2.78; 50.8% female) across 22 pediatric oncology treatment centers and rehabilitation centers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. The therapy program involves psychoeducational modules tailored to different medical treatment phases and includes assessments of emotional well-being and health literacy. Psychosocial health care professionals (HCPs) of the respective center conducted selected modules with children, with each module consisting of two 60-min sessions. Efficacy was determined through pre- and post-session assessments of children's emotional states with validated measures and their self-perceived, module-specific expertise (health literacy) on a scale of [1;5].

A significant improvement in subjective module-specific health literacy was observed, with self-reported expertise increasing from a mean of 2.97 (SD = 1.45) following session 1 to 3.97 (SD = 1.13) following session 2 (Wilcoxon V = 1597.5, p < 0.001). Negative emotions significantly decreased across sessions (B = -0.342, p < 0.001), as did neutral emotions (beta = -0.194, p < 0.001), whereas positive emotions significantly increased (beta = 0.051, p = 0.011). Notably, 38% of children and 40% of parents reported average QoL at baseline, which had no impact on the outcome of emotional well-being over time. The highest efficacy of the therapy program "MyLogbook" was observed in psychoeducational modules addressing early treatment phases (e.g., more than half of used booklets are accounted for by "Everything there is to know!", "My path to diagnosis" and "I'M Ready").

The psychological therapy program "MyLogbook" effectively translates psychosocial care guidelines into clinical practice, improving emotional well-being and health literacy among pediatric oncology patients and their families. To maximize its impact, future efforts should address structural challenges, integrate modules into a unified format, and expand accessibility through multi-lingual adaptations. This published psychosocial therapy program demonstrates the feasibility of delivering standardized psychosocial interventions and highlights their potential to enhance the quality of life for young patients with cancer.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04474678.