Penelope Hart-Spencer, Health Play Specialist at The Christie Hospital, tells us about the development of ‘Anna loses her hair’. The award-winning CCLG publication helps educate children on hair loss during cancer treatment.
A side effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is hair loss, and having to explain this to a child or young person can be upsetting and difficult for parents and carers. As a health play specialist, it’s my role to support them with talking to children about their treatment. For younger children, we use therapeutic and specialised play to help educate them about their treatment and side effects.
‘Anna loses her hair’ was inspired by a little girl and her family. She had very long hair and her mum was worried about how to explain that she’d lose her hair during radiotherapy treatment. Her mum had planned an appointment at the hairdressers to have their hair cut shorter, prior to starting treatment, but asked for my support with explaining hair loss.
I planned a play preparation session centring on hair loss, and set the play room up as a salon. I chose some dolls for the child to cut and restyle their hair, which helped normalise the prospect of having her own hair cut. I also wrote a story about the girl and put it onto the play room’s bookcase. I backed it in sparkly purple card and, knowing she’d be drawn to the cover, invited the girl to find a book from the bookcase that we could read together in the session. When we did, she couldn’t believe that the story was all about her and was so happy.
It told of how the little girl - ‘Super Angelica’ - lost her hair during treatment, but was able to have a beautiful wig and an amazing hat collection, which she loved. This resonated with the girl because she loved hats and was excited about choosing a wig. The story featured other children who’d lost their hair and this also helped to normalise hair loss for her. She’d met the children during her time at the hospital and she could see they were very happy, with or without their hair.
I noticed a gap in CCLG’s publications regarding hair loss for children and asked her parent’s permission to share the story. They were very keen and wanted other children to benefit from the story, so I gave it to CCLG and worked together with the team to develop into a publication. ‘Anna loses her hair’ helps educate children about hair loss during treatment, but in a way that’s appropriate and appealing to younger children. We sometimes use the story in our preparation sessions, or give the publication to parents to read with their children.
The reaction from children has been lovely. Children aged 8+ have said they like how bright it is and the illustrations inside. Others said they like the story as it’s relatable for children who share a similar experience. For younger children, when they see characters with no hair it really helps to normalise this during treatment. The response has been nothing but positive from children, families and health professionals. When ‘Anna loses her hair’ was shortlisted for a British Medical Association (BMA) patient information award, I was so pleased. It was a wonderful surprise and I felt so proud.
As a health play specialist, I’m very keen for children and young people to have access to age-appropriate information about treatment and side effects. It’s important to have information available in different formats and I was thrilled when CCLG turned the book into an animation, for children who prefer information in a digital format. This can be viewed on CCLG’s website, where the publication is available to order or download for free.
