The "qolop" project is a prospective longitudinal study of the quality of life of children surviving cancer launched in the autumn of 2006 in Brno. The project is being conducted by the Department of Paediatric Oncology of the Children's Medical Centre of the University Hospital Brno in co-operation with the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Institute of Psychology of the Faculty of Arts of the Masaryk University, and the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University.

The principal aim of the project is to identify those areas where the quality of life of children with cancer is impaired, both in terms of objective parameters (mobility, sensory organs functioning, social interactions), and the subjective perception of contentment (emotional functioning, life satisfaction). The identification of target areas will be based on comparison of children suffering cancer with the healthy population, as well as with the population of children with chronic diseases other than cancer. The research data will eventually be used to better assess therapeutic strategies and to enhance the research of late effects of cancer treatment.

Children between eight and eighteen years of age who have been in remission for two to five years at the time of examination are being included in the study. Approximately 300 children will enter the research during the first stage of the project (2007-2010, support by the Czech Science Foundation). Since paediatric malignancies are now regarded as chronic diseases, the control samples include both healthy children and children with chronic diseases other than cancer. The control samples are constructed in such a way as to correspond with the demographic structure of the research sample (age distribution, social and economic status of the family, proportion of single-parent families, and urban vs. rural place of residence). The samples will consist of 300 children each so as to correspond with the size of the research sample. The total of 1000 children will be included in the study.