REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psycho-Oncology
Identifying Concerns and Needs in AYA Survivors of Pediatric Cancer: A Scoping Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Instituto Portugues de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil EPE, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Investigacao em Ciencia Psicologica, Lisbon, Portugal
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Adolescent and young adult survivors of pediatric cancer (AYA-CCS) require specialized, age-appropriate care throughout their lives. This scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) to identify and map self-reported difficulties, concerns, and needs among AYA-CCS. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost (PsycINFO and CINAHL) for articles published between 2014 and 2024. Eligible studies included first-person data from AYA-CCS (aged 15-39 years), addressing their cancer-related difficulties, concerns, or needs. Studies using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods were considered. Two reviewers independently screened studies and resolved discrepancies through discussion. Results: We screened 1,247 records, of which 24 studies met the inclusion criteria. The findings were classified into two main dimensions: (1) Concerns, including psychological burden, long-term effects, infertility and its impact on relationships, transition of care, fear of recurrence, and social, professional, and financial challenges; and (2) Needs, including tailored information, psychological support, and communication challenges. Conclusions: This scoping review highlights the multiple challenges faced by AYA-CCS, with emphasis on psychological burden. Survivors report needs related to information, psychological support, and communication. Flexible, age-adapted psychoeducational approaches may be beneficial. Involving survivors in program design could enhance relevance. Stratified research by age or developmental stage is essential to align care with evolving needs. A lack of standardized AYA-CCS definitions was identified, underscoring the need for uniform criteria to strengthen future research and care.
Keywords: Pediatric cancer survivors, Childhood Cancer Survivors, difficulties, concerns, Worries, needs
Received: 06 Sep 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Moura, Santos and Barros. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maria Jesus Moura, mariajesusmoura@sapo.pt
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.