Neda Gol-Afshan, Alireza Moradi, Roghayeh Mousavi, Hadis Cheraghian,
Volume 24, Issue 95 (12-2025)
Abstract
The present study investigated the everyday memory performance of children with cancer before, during and after chemotherapy. The causal-comparative research method included 23 healthy children without disease, 12 children before treatment, 23 children during treatment, and 14 children after treatment, aged 8 to 17 years, selected as a random sample from Mahak Hospital and schools in Tehran and examined using the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (Wilson et al., 2008). The research data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential tests (analysis of variance). The results showed that the performance of the children and adolescents with cancer in the areas of everyday memory, new learning, spatial memory, orientation knowledge, verbal memory and future-related memory did not differ significantly in the four sample groups. Only the average visual memory was significantly lower in the cancer group during and after treatment than in the healthy group before treatment, and the difference was significant (F = 2.261, p>0.05). According to the research results, chemotherapy reduces the visual memory performance of cancer patients during and after treatment. On the one hand, this is due to the effect of the chemotherapy drugs on the hippocampus and cerebral cortex and the disruption of memory. On the other hand, memory is severely impaired by the stress and psychological problems resulting from this disease and its severe treatments, as well as by the lack of necessary cognitive support.
