Occupational Therapy in Oncology and Palliative Care

Abstract

Cancer is a chronic disease that may occur in both children and adults. Occupational therapy focuses on the activity limitations and participation problems in their life. Oncology rehabilitation involves in helping an individual with cancer to regain maximum physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and vocational functioning with the limits up to disease and its treatments in an interdisciplinary team concept. These treatment options are associated with the risk of some side effects, including fatigue, pain, cognitive problems, decrease in bone density and muscle endurance, weight loss, and stress-or anxiety-related psychosocial problems. Occupational therapy approaches are a holistic view in a client center and use training in activities of daily living, assistive technology, education of energy conservation techniques, and management of treatment-related problems, such as pain, fatigue, and nausea. In palliative and hospice care, occupational therapists support clients with cancer by minimizing the secondary symptoms related to cancer and its treatments. At the end of life, occupational therapy offers to identify the roles and activities that are meaningful and purposeful to the client with cancer and try to determine the barriers that limit their performance. Clients with cancer who have childhood cancer or adult cancer can face problems about body structure and functions, activity, and participation, which may limit their participation to their daily life.

Specific autonomy recovery programme in a comprehensive rehabilitation on functionality and respiratory parameters in oncological patients with dyspnoea. Study protocol

“… Reeducation in the activities of daily living: Intensity and simplification of the activities and trainings of energy-saving techniques (EST). An individual training will be completed on the rules for the simplification of activities, consisting of [ 24 ]: Exhaustive organisation of the workspaces where the activities are to be carried out Adaptation of the work plans and placement of the objects within the patient’s reach Prioritising basic self-care activities while sitting Movement control: doing the movements in a slow, coordinated, and harmonious manner, avoiding impulsive and vigorous movements Alternating heavy activities with light activities, establishing the required rest times between them Combining periods of balanced activity with periods of rest An individualised assessment will also be completed where we will prescribe the support products which will facilitate the patient’s mobilisation when completing their activities of daily living, such as a walker with an adaptation for oxygen therapy (a portable oxygen concentrator). And finally, we will complete an exhaustive daily log of the activity that the patient does, which we will in turn use to modify the same activity, adapting it to the patient’s clinical situation at all times.…”

“…Reeducation in the activities of daily living: Intensity and simplification of the activities and trainings of energy-saving techniques (EST). An individual training will be completed on the rules for the simplification of activities, consisting of [ 24 ]: Exhaustive organisation of the workspaces where the activities are to be carried out Adaptation of the work plans and placement of the objects within the patient’s reach Prioritising basic self-care activities while sitting Movement control: doing the movements in a slow, coordinated, and harmonious manner, avoiding impulsive and vigorous movements Alternating heavy activities with light activities, establishing the required rest times between them Combining periods of balanced activity with periods of rest …”

A Secure Occupational Therapy Framework for Monitoring Cancer Patients’ Quality of Life

“…The intervention consists of OT that would ensure energy conservation (tasks to lower energy demands, such as sitting while preparing meals), problem solving to aid with task analysis, education and problem solving to alleviate increased pain, serious games and strategies for reducing anxiety and depression over the loss of roles, strategies to explore sleep quality, yoga and expressive writing to decrease stress and improve quality of life, and home exercise containing range of motion and a stretching program to address fatigue. The authors of [22] outlined the OTs related to cancer rehabilitation and categorized them into seven areas: symptom control, activity training, patient education, motor training, sensory training, cognitive training, and vocational rehabilitation. The manuscript also recommended a set of OT cancer rehabilitation tasks and their evaluation instruments and assessment protocols.…”

“…As suggested by [22], the goal of our designed OT services are as follows: Physical assistance : The design goal is to provide physical support to manage symptoms such as fatigue or anxiety. The goal is to shift away from the support of a caregiver, and instead, the patient performs his/her daily activities as much as possible. Supervision and hints : The goal is to support a patient with several relevant OTs and design model therapies based on augmented and mixed reality. Activity demands : The task is that OT activities can be adapted based on the motor and cognitive demands of patients. Sequencing of activity : The role of this design is to discover the patient’s priority of activities through incentives.…”

“…OT incorporates a variety of techniques and tools to propose ADL, control pain, and improve overall mental health, which are most important to one’s QoL [19,20,21]. State of the art OT techniques can support through assistive technologies, education regarding energy conservation techniques, anxiety management, guided relaxation, and key intervention [22]. Other psychosocial QoL parameters associated with impaired physical and emotional functioning include education about self-management, which enables making changes in the areas of cognition, behavior, and emotion to maintain the required level of QoL.…”