Philippe Brunet

Topic

Pilot Study of a Novel Early Cognitive Intervention for Children Receiving Proton Radiation Therapy

Department of Psychology

Date & location

• Tuesday, August 13, 2024

• 9:00 A.M.

• Virtual Defence

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Sarah Macoun, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Megan Ames, Department of Psychology, UVic (Member)

• Dr. Yu Shi, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic (Non-unit Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Gina Harrison, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Dean Karlen, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UVic 

Abstract

Radiation therapy poses a significant risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes (NDOs), such as attention and executive function (A/EF) deficits in young children. As such, the current study assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a novel A/EF intervention, Dino Island (DI), among three children (age 7) receiving proton radiation therapy (PRT) for central nervous system (CNS) tumours. DI was delivered 1:1 at Mayo Clinic Rochester by a trained psychometrist (i.e., the interventionist) during the six-week active PRT phase. Feasibility was defined as the proportion of completed intervention sessions, while preliminary efficacy was assessed via cognitive testing and parent behavioural rating scales. Specifically, the testing schedule comprised a comprehensive baseline assessment, brief weekly testing probes during the intervention, a comprehensive post-intervention assessment and follow-up testing one month later. Results presented evidence supporting the potential feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the DI intervention. Indeed, DI may have the potential to mitigate the impact of radiation on certain cognitive domains and perhaps even enact cognitive gains. Crucially, findings support the feasibility of implementing DI during active PRT and provide a foundation for future large-scale randomized clinical trials. Future work should focus on recruiting a large sample to evaluate DI's impact across diverse populations and gathering longitudinal data.