We asked our patients – ‘What do you need in a cancer rehabilitation program?’ - 15/07/18
Résumé |
Introduction/Background |
Papers published in the literature and/or presented at rehabilitation congresses in recent years have demonstrated the efficacy of rehabilitation programs in addressing residual problems of impairment and function after cancer treatment. Functional outcomes of programs delivered to patients impacted by a cancer diagnosis are comparable to those delivered to patients with ‘benign’ disease diagnoses, as are post-discharge living arrangements and care outcomes.
Whilst data to support the efficacy of rehabilitation in the context of a cancer diagnosis well justifies these programs, for the individual patient the most important thing is the lived individual narrative of their illness and associated problems. The intersection of this narrative and functional outcome measures may at times be tenuous.
Material and method |
To address this, we undertook in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of patients at the time of their admission into the Jacaranda Cancer Rehabilitation Unit at Greenwich Hospital, and also prior to their discharge, to evaluate their own individual goals and hear the narrative of their experience in our rehabilitation program. We also convened focus groups of the medical, nursing and allied health professional members of the multidisciplinary team, to find out their experiences at the intersection of individual patient narrative, and formal rehabilitation goal setting.
Both positive and negative perspectives were sought.
Results |
We discovered that despite the challenges of goal setting and rehabilitation, the shared experience of a real therapeutic community between patients, families and the multidisciplinary team, lies at the heart of effective rehabilitation that puts people's lives back together, in ways that they can manage and continue with, after hospital discharge.
Conclusion |
Qualitative review of patients’ goals and their experience in rehabilitation provides a rich source of information that complements traditional quantitative outcome data.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Cancer rehabilitation, Goal setting, Therapeutic community
Plan
Vol 61 - N° S
P. e287 - juillet 2018 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.