Bridging the Gap: Investigating the Role of Social Workers in Supporting Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients in Nigeria

Psychosocial oncology in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Lessons from Ghana

“…We found only four peer‐reviewed articles that focused on psychosocial oncology in SSA, see Table 1 18–21 . While one study described the nature of psychosocial services delivered in Nigeria and the challenges of incorporating psychosocial care in routine oncological care, 19 another outlined the potential benefits and limitations of social work in the delivery of psychosocial care in SSA 20 .…”

“…In some settings, oncology nurses have effectively delivered palliative care including some psychological assessments for cancer patients 11,19 . Although social workers constitute the majority of psychosocial oncology clinicians in HICs, social workers in Ghana and most SSA countries lack training in psychosocial oncology and are not part of routine oncological clinical teams 20 . With ongoing shortages of oncologists and other specialized oncology clinicians in SSA, 1 oncology clinicians are not poised to screen and assess for the psychological needs of their patients.…”

“…We found only four peer-reviewed articles that focused on psychosocial oncology in SSA, see Table 1. [18][19][20][21] While one study described F I G U R E 1 Areas for consideration for psychosocial oncology research in sub-Saharan Africa the nature of psychosocial services delivered in Nigeria and the challenges of incorporating psychosocial care in routine oncological care, 19 another outlined the potential benefits and limitations of social work in the delivery of psychosocial care in SSA. 20 Although not specifically focused on SSA, another article summarized a plenary at an IPOS annual meeting that addressed the challenges and opportunities to developing psychosocial oncology care in LMIC.…”

“…[18][19][20][21] While one study described F I G U R E 1 Areas for consideration for psychosocial oncology research in sub-Saharan Africa the nature of psychosocial services delivered in Nigeria and the challenges of incorporating psychosocial care in routine oncological care, 19 another outlined the potential benefits and limitations of social work in the delivery of psychosocial care in SSA. 20 Although not specifically focused on SSA, another article summarized a plenary at an IPOS annual meeting that addressed the challenges and opportunities to developing psychosocial oncology care in LMIC. 21 Additionally, one survey study of leaders from the International Federation of Psycho-oncology Societies from 28 countries by Grassi and colleagues showed that psycho-oncology services are underdeveloped in SSA and South East Asia.…”

"Evaluation of the Interventions for the Management of Breast Cancer Among Women in Nigeria: A Narrative Review"

“…Even more so, there is an established correlation between the breast cancer outcomes in women from richer countries and those from poorer countries, referred to as 'lower and middle-income countries' (LMICs), with more than half of the breast cancer cases and two-third of the deaths occurring in this LMICs [1][2][3]. According to Agha et al, there were 266,120 new cases of breast cancer among women in the United States and 41,400 breast cancer deaths reported by the American Cancer Society in 2018 [4]. However, by comparison, Chidebe et al reported that new cancer cases among women in Nigeria per year stood at 102,000 with 72,000 deaths in the same period [5].…”