"What shall I do when I grow up?" Adolescents with cancer on the Youth Project in Milan play with their imagination and photography

The power of art and the powers of adolescents with cancer: Age-specific projects at Italian pediatric oncology centers

This article describes the oncology programs developed in Italy for adolescents and young adults with cancer, with a specific focus on the local projects created in pediatric oncology centers. A common feature of such projects is the emphasis on creative and artistic activities and laboratories (involving music, photography, novel writing, fashion design, and so on) designed to give young patients innovative means of expression.This article highlights the amazing powers of adolescents involved in these projects: the power to produce beautiful things in a place that is not normally associated with the idea of beauty; the power to make their doctors smile and grasp the profound sense of life; the power to make hospitals become places for producing culture.

"Based on a true story" podcast: a journey into the world of young patients with cancer

This article describes a creative project undertaken by a group of adolescent and young adult patients with cancer as part of the Milan's Youth Project, a scheme dedicated to young patients with cancer with the dual aim of optimizing medical aspects of their care and promoting a holistic approach to their needs. The project was based on audio recordings and focused on the theme of "the journey," such as a holiday or an adventure, or as a metaphor of the cancer experience. The podcast installments were published on the main streaming platforms. Talking about their disease and how they feel is of importance for young patients to process their feelings surrounding the cancer experience and to find the inner resources they need to facilitate coping.

Adolescents with cancer on privacy: Fact-finding survey on the need for confidentiality and space

BACKGROUND

Cancer diagnosis and related treatment can limit young patients' privacy. Their need for private physical and psychological spaces can be impeded by limited freedom, e.g., sharing hospital rooms with others and exposing their body to their parents and doctors.

METHODS

We conducted a survey among young patients of our center to investigate how their perception of privacy changed after being diagnosed with cancer and their need for hospital dedicated physical spaces and time for patients to enjoy their privacy. A questionnaire with 16 items was developed by the staff involving psychologists and physicians. The relevance of changes before and after the cancer diagnosis was assessed by calculating two scores indicating the situation before and after diagnosis for each answer, as well as a delta score.

RESULTS

Between May and June 2020, the questionnaire was completed by 60 patients aged 16-24 years. The median delta scores describing the changes before and after diagnosis were -8 points for perception of privacy, indicating a significant decrement of the level of privacy perceived. A major issue was the constant presence of parents being perceived as intrusive. Concerning hospital dedicated physical spaces and time for patients to enjoy their privacy, respondents requested dedicated spaces (50% of patients) and opportunities to have private interviews with medical personnel (88%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study offers a snapshot of how young people with cancer perceive the impact of the disease and its treatment on their privacy with the restrictions imposed on their individual freedom. Patients' personal needs must be taken into consideration to adopt appropriate measures and better organize wards.

Discussing communication issues and needs with adolescents with cancer

Adolescents with cancer face unique medical and psychosocial challenges and it is important for their doctors to understand the psychological manifestations of cancer diagnosis and treatment in this age group. Using patient dialogues, we describe how simultaneous participation of physicians and patients could help to give voice to patient needs, in particular concerning communication.

Experiencing Social Isolation (Even in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown): Teachings Through Arts from Adolescents with Cancer

The article describes how adolescents with cancer utilized an artistic approach to discuss about their social isolation caused by disease and treatment. With the help of professionals, 17 young patients closed in their isolation room described their ideal room (a bit real, a bit of a fantasy place) producing texts and images, subsequently put together into a book. In these days when people are forced to social isolation by the lockdown related to corovavirus disease 2019 pandemic, young patients teach us meaningful life lessons: how social confinement can become an opportunity to focus on yourself, and what is really important in life.

Can Desire and Wellbeing Be Promoted in Adolescents and Young Adults Affected by Cancer? PhotoTherapy as a Mirror That Increases Resilience

PhotoTherapy represents a recent psychotherapeutic intervention which, through the medium of photography, has the objective of helping a patient reach a higher self-knowledge and explore thoughts, desires, and intimate perceptions that would otherwise remain hidden. Because of this, it may help people overcome their cognitive and emotional boundaries and bring out their interiority, even when exploring some of the most distressing themes. The objective of the present research was to demonstrate that the elaboration and expression of inner desires, fears and needs of wellbeing among adolescents and young adults, who were either sick or had been cured of cancer, could be facilitated through the use of PhotoTherapy. Their responses were also compared with those of healthy young adults, in order to be able to explore the kind of impact such a pathology can have on those who are affected by it and highlight eventual differences in the kind of desires and needs expressed instead by those who never had a diagnosis of cancer. A qualitative research design was adopted. 45 people took part in the study, aged between 12 and 25 (mean age 19). The participants were divided into three groups: those currently being treated for cancer, those with a history of cancer and those who had no experience of cancer (third group). From the data analysis, different preferences and attitudes toward the presented pictures and themes emerged among the participants, depending on the specific group they belonged to. The article discusses these preferences and considers how PhotoTherapy can help treat psychological distress caused by cancer.

"Summer is you": Adolescents and young adults with cancer sing about their desire for summer

Creative spirit and art are used as part of the Youth Project in Milan, a program dedicated to adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer. The "Summer is you" music project involved 45 patients (15-26 years old): with professional help, the patients wrote music and lyrics, sang their song, and recorded a video clip, sharing with us not only their hopes and fears, but also their romantic encounters and their urge to travel (https://youtu.be/Q5FSCMUVg0E). This project exploited the power of music to bring young people with cancer together in a novel form of support that can complement the more conventional psychological approaches.

Diary of a journey to a faraway galaxy

This article describes a brief account written by a girl treated with chemotherapy and surgery for an ovarian germ cell tumor. The brief novel was conceived in the context of the Youth Project of Milan, dedicated to helping adolescent and young adult cancer patients socialize and express themselves through group activities that focus on art and creativity. It describes the scenery of a new galaxy and is replete with images and metaphors that recall the experience of receiving anticancer treatment, touching on emotional themes including desire, isolation, fear, and hope.