Balancing Risk with Resilience: Using Holistic Psychosocial Screening and Assessment Tools Effectively with Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

Abstract

Holistic psychosocial assessment of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer is crucial to ensuring that these young people receive individualised support and care which is flexible, responsive, and tailored to their specific needs and resources. Repeated assessment across the cancer trajectory allows clinicians to monitor areas of strength and concern and adjust care in accordance with changes in the cancer situation. This chapter outlines the development and use of two such screening and assessment processes used with AYAs with cancer: the AYA Oncology Psychosocial Care Manual and Integrated Assessment Mapping. Four case studies are presented which illustrate how these processes may be adapted for individual AYAs, highlighting the benefits and challenges of adopting such approaches. This holistic approach to screening and assessment promotes a thorough exploration of the cancer experience from the young person’s perspective and identifies individual strengths as a means to building resilience. The familiarity that oncology nurses often have with their AYA patients and their cancer situation makes them particularly well-placed to facilitate these screening and assessment processes and lay the foundations for a positive and collaborative working relationship between the young person and their clinical care team.