Improving the school experience of children with cancer

Abstract

The aim of this graduation project was to design a product/service to improve the psychosocial school experience of children with cancer aged between 8 and 10 years old (group 5/6 at primary school) and the people around them during the treatment phase. The projected is conducted under the project ‘Meedoen=Groeien!’.

Within the current situation, children with cancer and the people around them experience several challenges which affect the school experience. One of these challenges is that teachers tend to underestimate children with cancer, while sick children tend to overestimate themselves. For teachers it is difficult to understand what to expect from sick children, since their mood and energy level is affected by the cancer and its treatment and can changes during the day. Sick children tend to overestimate themselves due to their willingness and enthusiasm. They want to do the same as they did before the cancer and do the same as their classmates to get a sense of belonging. The effects of over- and underestimation are similar. Both have a negative influence on the self-confidence, self-image, and development of the child. Therefore the project aim was to prevent over-/underestimation by designing a product/service that supports sick children to express their mood and energy level in order to create together with their teacher a suitable individual planning throughout the day.

This is established by the ‘Humeur adviseur’ which exist of the ‘Gevoelens medaille’ – product and ‘Mijn les’ – cards. The ‘Gevoelens medaille’ is lying on the table of the sick children and can be used whenever they want. The ‘Gevoelens medaille’ stimulates the sick children to think and talk about their mood and energy level, makes it possible to express this in an easy, quick, and unforced way, and reminds classmates and teachers of the impact cancer and its treatment has on the sick child. Based on the mood and energy level of the sick children, the teachers can decide which tasks the sick children could do. This can be written down on the ‘Mijn les’. To involve the sick children and regain control, they can mark which tasks they are going to do by choosing from the tasks proposed by the teacher and/or by adding extra tasks.

The ‘Mijn les’ – cards will be used by the classmates as well, to give the children the feeling that the sick child is treated like a “normal” child and create a sense of belonging. On the front of the cards the children can write down the goal of the lesson, the tasks they are going to do, and how long they have to fulfil the tasks. During the lesson they can mark which tasks they have finished and after the lesson they can reflect on the lesson. This makes learning visible and gives the sick children the opportunity to communicate to the teachers how they perceived the lesson. This information can be used by the teachers to create a better understanding of the sick children.