QOS-08: NEUROCOGNITIVE REHABILITATION IN CHILDREN TREATED FOR BRAIN TUMOURS: A PILOT STUDY IN GUSTAVE ROUSSY CANCER CAMPUS

BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive deficits are frequent consequences of children treated for brain tumours and often require intervention. Those cognitive difficulties are responsible for school difficulties (Grill & al, 1999; Kieffer & Longaud, 2012), and these difficulties can disrupt their social outcome (Gurney & al, 2009). There is an increasing need to develop program of rehabilitation for both short-term and long-term management of neurological sequelae arising from the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors in childhood. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of neurocognitive skills group intervention program for children treated for brain tumor. METHOD: A group of children treated for brain tumours are described and conducted in the Gustave Roussy's Cancer Campus. The first pilot group enrolled 8 children (4 males, 4 females) aged 10.2 years-old at time of intervention program. This group started in 2014 from December to June, in 10 sessions of 2 hours/session. Metacognition techniques are applied to help children improve their attentionnal and executive deficits. At the end of the sessions, both parents and children give their opinion about the impact of such intervention on their cognitive deficits. CONCLUSION: This pilot study is the 1st one to report improvements related to group social skills intervention at the level of observed social performance over the course of intervention. The intervention is feasible and outcomes based on parental reports provide preliminary good support for the efficacy of the program.