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Early integration of palliative/supportive cancer care—healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the support needs of cancer patients and their caregivers across the cancer treatment trajectory

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Abstract

Purpose

Delivering palliative/supportive cancer care (PSCC) early in the course of cancer care can enhance patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life, reduce anxiety and depression, and prolong patients’ lives. However, their support needs are analyzed insufficiently from viewpoints other than their own. The goal of this study was to explore the perspectives of healthcare professionals on desirable standards of support for tumor patients and caregivers across the cancer treatment trajectory. It further aimed at identifying starting points for PSCC to address these needs.

Methods

Nine healthcare professionals of varying disciplines in a large German university hospital each participated in one of two focus groups. The qualitative data was analyzed following the grounded theory methodology.

Results

The healthcare professionals described it as desirable standards that tumor patients and caregivers receive support coping with tasks, accepting the situation, generating strength, feeling trust, and gaining clarity, thus increasing their sense of control. These support needs were seen as important throughout the whole cancer treatment trajectory of tumor patients and their caregivers.

Conclusions

Team meetings, supervision, tailored education, and structural improvements may aid healthcare professionals to develop and implement ways to further support patients and caregivers. Also, patients’ and caregivers’ support needs should be screened regularly, e.g., when treatment phases change. This would complement healthcare professionals’ subjective theories of relevant needs during a specific treatment phase.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Department, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200, Berlin, Germany

    Amy Rohrmoser, Martina Preisler, Konrad Bär & Anne Letsch

  2. Charité Comprehensive Cancer Center, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Invalidenstr. 80, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Ute Goerling

Authors
  1. Amy Rohrmoser
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  2. Martina Preisler
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  3. Konrad Bär
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  4. Anne Letsch
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  5. Ute Goerling
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy Rohrmoser.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was part of a research project approved by the ethical review committee of the large German university hospital where the study was conducted.

Additional information

This study was presented as a poster at the 11th Congress of the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Palliativmedizin”

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Rohrmoser, A., Preisler, M., Bär, K. et al. Early integration of palliative/supportive cancer care—healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the support needs of cancer patients and their caregivers across the cancer treatment trajectory. Support Care Cancer 25, 1621–1627 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3587-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3587-x

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