Mapping the needs and psychological outcomes of Slovenian adolescent and young adult cancer patients: An exploratory mixed‐method study

Abstract

creasing survival rates, there remain large discrepancies in outcomes between countries across Europe (Allemani et al., 2018). As the number of cancer survivors increases, so does the need to attend to the patients' needs beyond treatment. A particularly vulnerable group of patients are adolescent and young adults (AYA), who have traditionally been overlooked, either placed together with children, or much older adults based on arbitrary age cutoffs, which vary between regions (Kosir, 2019). It has now been well established that the needs of AYA patients are different and unique to this age group (Barnett et al.,

Art Unfolds Words: Expressing Hope Through Creative Art Among Adolescents and Young Adults Who Have Advanced Cancer

“…Standard pediatric cancer treatments (e.g., radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery) and related side effects often disrupt and challenge normative developmental events for AYAs such as threatening or altering independence from parents; forming and sustaining peer relationships; and goal planning for the future (Haase et al, 2020). Compared to their older and younger counterparts, AYAs more frequently experience anxiety and depression and lack age-appropriate psychosocial and spiritual resources to support their coping (Košir et al, 2020; Niedzwiedz et al, 2019; Pinkerton et al, 2018; Smith et al, 2021). Additionally, recent work on children in their first year of cancer treatment shows anxiety and nausea increase with age and worsen during patients’ teenage years (Raybin, 2021).…”