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Children diagnosed with a chronic illness, such as cancer, experience a vastly different childhood than their healthy counterparts. They may struggle with accepting that they are no longer seen as "normal". We surveyed 10 children who have a chronic illness and interviewed 15 healthcare professionals and 7 parents of chronically ill children to understand their communication practices and challenges of how these patients stay connected with their peers. We found that due to the nature of their illness and constant hospitalization, pediatric patients often use various communication technologies to stay in touch with friends and try to maintain normalcy in their lives. Some patients also had to create a "new normal" that balanced life before and after being diagnosed. Based on these results, we suggest opportunities for technology to help patients connect to others and retain a sense of normalcy or to encourage them to embrace their "new normal".
Liu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.