Author(s)

Christianna Zarou¹, Maria Micha^1,2*, Flora Bacopoulou^1,3, Antonis Kattamis^1,4, Katerina Katsibardi^1,5, Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein^1,6

¹School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
²Unit of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, UoA, “Aghia Sophia” Chil-dren’s Hospital, Athens, Greece.
³Center for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Ka-podistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁴First Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁵Oncology Unit, Department of Pediatric Hematology, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁶First Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Diagnosing childhood cancer is very stressful for the child and his family. In fact, this condition emotionally affects both the child and the family, resulting in a decrease in mood and in resilience. This requires intervention to enhance the well-being and quality of life of the child throughout the duration of treatment. Exercise interventions aim to improve the mental health and the QoL of these children. The aim of this systematic review was to sum up the evidence from randomized control studies that examined the effectiveness of exercise intervention in the quality of life of children with cancer. The Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus databases were meticulously searched from articles that studied the effect of exercise intervention on QoL of children with cancer. The initial search retrieved 632 studies, of which only seven randomized controlled trials met the selection criteria. Four out of seven studies demonstrated statistically significant improvement in quality of life according to QoL score, fact that verifies the hypothesis that exercise intervention may enhance the positive emotions of children and cultivate their mental resilience needed by the healing process. The results of our review indicate that exercise improves the satisfaction of children with cancer and their mental and physical health.

Children, Cancer, Exercise Intervention, Quality of Life, QoL Score

Zarou, C. , Micha, M. , Bacopoulou, F. , Kattamis, A. , Katsibardi, K. and Kanaka-Gantenbein, C. (2022) The Effects of Exercise Intervention on the Quality of Life According to QoL Score in Children with Cancer: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Psychology, 13, 543-551. doi: 10.4236/psych.2022.134036.