ABSTRACT
Advances in medical care over the past 25 years have improved life expectancy and quality of life for children with chronic and/or life threatening illnesses. As children with chronic illness advance through primary and secondary school, they are faced with increased academic and psychosocial challenges. For example, school absenteeism associated with chronic illness contributes to reduced peer interaction, impacting quality of friendships, self-esteem, and feelings of isolation (Shiu, 2001). In addition to this disruption in typical childhood development, activities enjoyed by healthy children, such as overnight summer camp, may be limited due to required medical care and other potential accommodations (e.g., wheelchair accessible, modified diet for food allergy).
