Effective patient–professional communication can be of crucial importance to long-term psycho-social outcomes in patients with cancer. This study identifies patient satisfaction with regard to various aspects of communication and perceived quality of care. A well-validated questionnaire was administered to 435 cancer patients throughout Northern Ireland during a 3-month period. Northern Ireland can be regarded as a typical UK region in terms of cancer service configuration. The cohort consisted of patients with breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, gynaecological and gastric cancers. There was a 78% response rate. Satisfaction scores were individually calculated for various aspects of care, particularly diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and overall care. Non-parametric analysis examined the interaction between satisfaction scores and primary tumour site, age and gender. While overall satisfaction scores were relatively high, there was considerable variation. Of particular note was the interaction between perceived satisfaction and quality of care, communication, tumour site and age. Key findings are that there are a number of issues with regard to information and communication which can be clearly improved within Northern Ireland cancer services. The paper concludes that patient–professional communication should be tailored to meet individual need.
A qualitative descriptive study was developed to gain an insight into the experiences of patients with operable cancer of the oesophagus and the information they received. Through semistructured interviews, participants related details about different aspects of information-giving. Key sources of information were the consultant surgeon and other patients. Nurses, other medical staff, physiotherapists and dieticians were then mentioned. Family/friends were poor sources. Positive and negative aspects of the verbal and written information given were described, but there was minimal support for audiovisual information. Participants were given information relating to a number of key areas: treatment details, side-effects, extent of their disease, cure and prognosis and return to normality. A number of problem areas were identified. The findings indicate a need for a thoracic nurse specialist, updating of the information booklet and development of a staff education programme.
This study aimed to measure the health status and care needs of people who provide informal care to cancer survivors in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 24 cancer professionals to identify the care needs of caregivers. In addition, we conducted a postal survey measuring the health and well-being [36-item short-form health survey (SF-36)] and health service utilisation of 98 primary caregivers of a random sample of cancer survivors, 2–20 years post-treatment. Interviews indicated that caregivers' needs were largely unmet. In particular, there appeared to be a need in relation to statutory healthcare provision, information, psychological support and involvement in decision-making. There were no significant differences between survivors and caregivers in terms of mental health scores; and caregivers performed better on physical health domains compared with cancer survivors. Compared with UK norms and norms for caregivers of other chronic conditions, cancer caregivers had substantially lower scores on each SF-36 health domain. Cancer may impact negatively on an informal caregiver's health long after treatment has ended. Providing appropriate and cancer-specific information may alleviate difficulties and improve health and well-being. Specific concentration should be given to the development and delivery of information support for caregivers of post-treatment cancer survivors.
This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness of multidimensional rehabilitation programs in terms of maintaining or improving the physical and psychosocial well‐being of adult cancer survivors. The review will evaluate the extent to which: Professionally led multidimensional rehabilitation programs achieve better outcomes than standard services for patients with cancer and their caregivers Rehabilitation programmes exert a different impact on different domains (e.g. psychological health, physical functioning) Different modes of delivery and different settings influence outcomes There is relationship between the number, duration and intensity of rehabilitation sessions and degree of change in measured outcomes.
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