Objectives/purpose: Cancer and its treatment can profoundly impact a child’s life, including their psychological, social and cognitive wellbeing. Bibliotherapy, a reading-based therapy, shows promise in mitigating these negative effects; however, the evidence base remains limited. We conducted a scoping review of published research evaluating bibliotherapy for children with cancer in terms of psychological, social, cognitive, academic, or quality of life outcomes.
Procedures: The review followed the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews and was registered through Open Science Framework. A search of PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Google Scholar yielded 21 studies for inclusion. Intervention type, therapeutic goals, participant characteristics, and outcomes were extracted. Reading materials, fiction and non-fiction, application of bibliotherapy across various treatment phases, and the incorporation of digital formats were also assessed.
Results: Majority of studies were quantitative (n = 17) with a broad range of study designs and sample sizes. Overall, bibliotherapy was associated with reduced anxiety and psychological distress, enhanced emotional well-being, and promoted communication between children and their parents. Educational outcomes were also positive including improved sound awareness and vocabulary acquisition. Fiction and non-fiction were both of value depending on the purpose of the intervention.
Conclusion and clinical implications: Despite promising results, the evidence base remains limited due to the scarcity of randomised controlled trials and long-term follow-up studies. Bibliotherapy is positioned as a valuable adjunct to conventional therapies, providing holistic support to improve the quality of life for children facing the challenges of cancer. There is an opportunity to integrate bibliotherapy into clinical practice though additional high-quality research is needed.