The Importance of Well-being during Childhood Cancer Treatment. - A PhD Study on classmates as psychosocial rehabilitation for children with cancer.

PhD defence by Natasha Nybro Boensvang

Assessment Committee

Professor Tom Møller, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Pernille Juhl, Roskilde University
Professor Fiona Schulte, University of Calgary

Supervisors

Associate Professor Hanne Bækgaard Larsen
Associate Professor Pernille Envold Bidstrup
Postdoc Martin Kaj Fridh
Professor Claire Elizabeth Wakefield

Department

Department of Clinical Medicine

Graduate Programme

Medicine, Culture and Society

Place

Building: 13, Room: Holst Auditorium, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen Ø

Email address to gain access to the thesis: natasha@boensvang.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

My thesis is part of the psychosocial rehabilitation study "The RESPECT Study" offering educational sessions in the school class, in-hospital physical activity, and classmate visits during hospitalization. 

My thesis explored of classmate visits during hospitalization can support the well-being and social development of children with ancer by creating structured frames for social interaction. This aim has been explored through interviews with children with cancer, their parents, classmates, school teachers, and project nurses combined with participant observations. The key finding of my thesis is that social encounters do not happen by brining children with cancer and their classmates together (by proximity). Trained adults need to facilitate these visits both in how the visits are set up (setting) and in what happens during the visits (content).