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Eindwerk psycho-oncologie 2016-2018: How do cancer patients in a non-curative setting experience psychological help during their treatment?

The goal of this research is investigating the need for and value of psychological support during treatment among patients who suffer from non-curative cancer. Through a questionnaire we get to know how patients have experienced psychological help during treatment, making it possible to improve the approach of psychological support in our and other hospitals.

Onderzoeksopzet

We used two kinds of analyses, qualitative (Nvivo 11.4.2) and quantitative (SPSS 20). The questionnaire contained questions that could be answered with simply yes or no, but extra information was asked through open questionnaires to collect as much information as possible. Doing so we wanted to know exactly how patients have experienced psychological help during treatment. To make sure patients felt safe to also share negative experiences we decided to analyse the answers in an anonymous way.

Resultaten

Even though we asked specifically for things patients had missed or experienced as less pleasant during psychological follow-ups, little negative reactions were expressed. On the contrary patients were very positive about the approach of psychologists in our hospital. More specifically, the number of follow-ups they had been given was significantly linked with their positivity about the approach as well as the virtue and the support they had felt. Even though patients admit they wouldn’t have asked for psychological support, they benefited from it and almost all patients would advise this kind of help to fellow sufferers. Our study also showed that patients hadn’t felt much impediments or taboo about talking to a psychologist. On the contrary, they received positive reactions from their environment that this kind of support was being offered.

Klinische, maatschappelijke en/of wetenschappelijke relevantie

Overall we can conclude that following-up patients in a pro-active way is the best approach for psychologists. Patients don’t expect this kind of help and wouldn’t have asked for it themselves, but they seem to benefit from it. As psychologists we can only hope the positive evolution about little taboo felt will continue in the future, so patients will find the courage to ask for help when needed and not offered anyway. Not only offering psychological help seems to be important, but psychologists should be given the chance to meet patients on a regular basis since the support and virtue felt increase substantially.

Auteur: 
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