Children’s understanding of cancer: Developmental trend in their conceptual complexity

Abstract

This study aimed to understand children’s conceptualization of the disease cancer and track the changes in the complexity in comprehending cancer with progression in class. The sample was drawn from three schools that enrolled socioeconomically disadvantaged group of children enrolled from class VI to class X. Results were analyzed using a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Content analysis identified a total of seven themes into which the responses were distributed. The complexity of conceptualization was measured by evolving Entropy scores or Divergence Index. It clearly tracked a progressive developmental trend in complexity of the schema among the children.