Research

Khoon Chai Wee sharing a presentation at the 15th Childhood Cancer International Asia conference (2023) in Kuching, Malaysia.

Khoon Chai Wee together with Yenn Ang, and Keith Teo (childhood cancer survivor) at the SIOP Asia conference (2025) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Zach Lee presented a poster at the 6th International Conference on Practice Research in Social Work (2023) in Aalborg, Denmark.

CCF’s research team conducts psychosocial research in the field of paediatric oncology and conducts regular research engagements with our direct service teams. Regular research engagements support programme and service development through providing direct service teams with updates on relevant literature, contextualise findings from research and literature, programme and service evaluation support. Through these, the research team contributes to CCF’s mission of improving the quality of life of beneficiaries.

Ongoing Research Projects and Engagements

The Growing QoLaS – QoL Assessments Growing Up in Singapore After Cancer

Since August 2021, the Research team collaborated with Prof Allen Yeoh (NUH) to support the implementation of The Growing QoLaS, a 10-year longitudinal study examining the quality of life of children with cancer and their families throughout treatment and survivorship. To date, over 200 families have participated in our study. Preliminary findings have provided valuable insights into families’ experiences and informed the patients’ care team by identifying areas where additional psychosocial support may be needed.

Completed Research Projects and Engagements

2025

Aligned with the 1 CCF 2030 roadmap, the Research team conducted the SUPER study to better understand the shifting profiles and lived experiences of childhood cancer survivors in Singapore. The study surveyed 254 survivors who were diagnosed between 2007 and 2023, examining their health, Quality of Life (QOL), education, employment, and social integration outcomes among survivors served by CCF.

Findings showed that survivors’ QOL was comparable to Singapore population across most domains. However, survivors’ psychological wellbeing was scored consistently lower than the healthy population across all age groups. Also, survivors who had recently completed treatment reported lower physical well-being while long-term survivors reported lower social well-being. Although 91% of survivors were receiving follow-up care, only 45% reported experiencing or suspecting late effects, suggesting potential gap in late effect recognition. In response, CCF intends to start conversation of late effects earlier into survivorship and to strengthen our physical wellness initiatives to better support our survivors’ physical well-being. The study was presented at SIOP Asia in 2026 to raise awareness of the importance of long-term childhood cancer survivorship care.

In collaboration with the Specialist Clinic, the Research team conducted a study to understand how Photovoice has benefited the survivors over the years across different stages of survivorship, particularly with the usage of photography in the meaning-making process. The study involved focus group discussions with seven survivors, exploring their personal narratives and experiences as Photovoice participants. Three key themes emerged: (1) Perspectives: participants were able to explore their own and others’ views in life. (2) Direction: participants had opportunities to contemplate their childhood cancer journey & future. (3) Reflection and Expression: Participants were able to recognise and appreciate their personal growth. These themes aligned with the intended objectives of Photovoice, suggesting that the programme has successfully provided opportunities for participants to reflect and express themselves.

The presentation also marked a significant milestone, as it was the first time we co-presented our findings with a survivor, Keith Teo, at SIOP Asia 2025, highlighting the value of survivor partnership in research dissemination. The work was also subsequently presented in NUS SSR-TOUCH Conference in 2025 together with another survivor, Tay Qin Han.

Employment

Refined the evaluation strategy for the ARTrepreneur programme in response to the insights from 2024 evaluation findings.
Reviewed portfolio priorities in response to result emerged from SUPER.

Wellness

Development of evaluation strategy to evaluate Fitness Challenge to support their program development and outcome reporting.

Casework and Counselling

Development of hospital services Theory of Change to articulate intended outcomes of casework and counselling in hospital setting.

2024

Needs That Matter was a collaborative study between the Caregiver Support Service (CSS) the Research Team that examines the needs of our caregivers who are currently caring for their child in treatment. The study was designed with generate actionable insights to aid their program development. A total of 45 caregivers whose children were diagnosed in 2022 participated in the study. Findings showed that existing support and resources are generally meeting the informational and practical needs of the caregivers of children with cancer in treatment. Also, caregivers of children with cancer tend to prioritize their child’s care needs over their own needs while their child is in treatment, often discounting the importance of their needs and well-being. This suggests that greater attention could be paid to the emotional and psychosocial needs of the caregivers.

The findings of the studies were shared with CSS to update existing programmes to better support caregivers of children with cancer. The collaborative research process between the Research team and practitioners was presented at 6th International Conference on Practice Research in Social Work in 2023.

Caregiver Support Services

Supported the conceptualisation and development of Heart Space, providing insights to inform programme design and outcome reporting.

Employment

Developed an evaluation strategy for the ARTrepreneur Programme to support programme development and outcome reporting.
Developed an evaluation strategy for Pre-employment Services to guide programme development and future outcome reporting.

2023

In this poster presentation, we outlined a collaboration by the research team and case workers cum programme planners from the Caregiver Support Services (CSS) to design a practice research project that deliberately emphasizes programme planning needs and retrieval of actionable results, while managing the robustness of the study. Three key learnings have emerged from the study process that would help to facilitate future collaborations between researchers and practitioners, namely: (i) Negotiating the balance between representative and actionable results (ii) Managing the expectations of researchers, practitioners and service users in the process and (iii) The potential benefits of the service user-led approach in practice research. The poster was presented at the 6th International Conference on Practice Research in Social Work and the SASW Social Work Practice Research Seminar in 2023.

This presentation outlines CCF’s experience as an organization in meeting the standards of psychosocial care. In 2015, fifteen evidence-based Standards for Psychosocial Care for Children with Cancer and Their Families (Standards) were published to help ensure that children with cancer and their families receive essential psychosocial care. Children’s Cancer Foundation, Singapore (CCF), conducted an exercise to look at how the organization’s psychosocial services and programs vis-à-vis the established Standards. Evidence-informed model of care taking into consideration the needs of children with cancer both within the hospital and community context allowed CCF to provide psychosocial care to children with cancer and their families. Constant review and monitoring of programs and services allowed the organization to keep up to date with the needs enabling us to go beyond the provision of essential psychosocial care that was outlined in the fifteen Standards. This presentation was shared at the 15th Childhood Cancer International Asia Conference in 2023.

2021

This study studied how the pandemic has impacted the caregiving experience of parents of children with cancer via a closed-ended online survey with 78 parents in October 2020. We found that caregiving demand has increased during the pandemic, and two in five parents were severely impacted by the pandemic. Parents did not experience a significant change in social support and were coping well with the stressors during the pandemic. The study highlights both the challenges faced as well as the strengths exhibited by these parents amid the pandemic. The findings were also presented at the 2nd Singapore Social Work Practice Research Conference 2021 hosted by NUS Social Work Department

This study seeks to investigate the impact of changes in work arrangements on the staff in CCF, their coping, and support required during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite an increase in stress levels, staff were adapting well to the current work arrangement and agreed that CCF took appropriate measures to ensure their health and well-being. However, providing services through virtual platforms was also challenging for social workers and specialists. Despite the challenges, staff in CCF felt that they were generally well-supported, and the organisation’s new work arrangements were appropriate during this pandemic.

2020

In collaboration with students from NUS Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre, a research study was conducted with 71 caregivers and allied health professionals to understand childhood cancer survivors’ rehabilitation needs and challenges. About one in three required rehabilitation at the hospital, and the main challenges were time constraints and transportation issues. At home, the leading issues faced by parents were the child’s unwillingness to do the rehabilitation exercises, discomfort and lack of time.

Findings from this study showed that there is generally good knowledge about childhood cancer in Singapore. Compassion for children with cancer was also high. However, knowledge and awareness appeared to be independent of direct support for children with cancer. A sizeable number of respondents were unsure how they could interact with or help children with cancer. It highlighted the need to provide practical tips to the public on the roles they could play in the lives of children with cancer and their families.

This study was conducted to investigate the psychosocial impact on siblings from the parents’ perspective. It included a review of their coping strategies and the sources of support they deemed necessary and helpful. Spending quality time together and engaging immediate family members to provide caregiving support were the coping strategies adopted by most parents. Negative impacts detected were diverse but for the majority of siblings observed, positive impacts were more apparent. However, these acts of maturity should not be assumed as signs that they were coping well. Parents and support services should also be attentive to the needs of siblings at different developmental stages and provide age-appropriate intervention.

2019

This study captured the sharing of 16 parents and four youth survivors on the challenges faced in returning to school after cancer treatments. Along the illness trajectory, parents and youths had engaged various systems including CCF, school, family and medical to support the schooling needs. This finding denotes the importance of the coordinated efforts needed to support children with cancer in their reintegration to school.

2018

This study captures the voices of 13 children and adolescents, aged seven to 16, who invited us into their worlds to reveal their lived experiences in the face of their parents’ cancer and eventual death.

Be it pre- or post-death period, all of them experienced some form of emotional impacts and practical disruptions in daily life. Yet, all of them had their own coping strategies, primarily by engaging themselves with some forms of activities and distracting themselves from the resulted distress

A collaboration with Singapore Hospice Council, this study aims to understand and examine the needs of bereaved persons and examine how far the current support network has supported the bereaved in their grief.

2017

This study sought to understand the psychosocial impacts of childhood cancer on siblings. Eleven parents were interviewed through two focus group interviews. Siblings experienced tremendous changes and impacts resulting from a childhood cancer diagnosis. Parents attempted to attend to the siblings’ needs and facilitate their adjustments which helped the siblings to gradually cope and adapt over time. Such attempts often took a toll on parents juggling between the child with cancer and these siblings, and thus require additional resources to support them in this process.

This study explored the schooling needs of children with cancer who are planning to return to school, to augment what is already known and to identify any other areas of needs or service gaps. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with 12 parents. When their child was preparing to return school at the end of treatment, parents expressed the following concerns and needs with regards to schooling:

1. Physical / medical constraints
2. Psychological and emotional wellbeing
3. Academic performance
4. Socialisation and interpersonal relationships

By addressing the needs and concerns identified in this study, it can help to ease the transition back to school for children with cancer.

Ongoing Research Projects and Engagements

Completed Research Projects and Engagements

2025

2024

2023

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

The Scope Issue 8

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The Scope Issue 2

The Scope Issue 1

SUPER – SUrvivor Profiling ExeRcise