Social Service Counseling in Cancer Centers Certified by the German Cancer Society

Abstract

Social workers are an integral part of care provided in cancer centers that are certified according to the requirements of the German Cancer Society. This article reports on the tasks of social workers in German cancer care and on the proportion of patients that receives social service counseling (SSC) in breast, lung, colorectal, skin, gynecological, prostate, pancreas, neurological, and head and neck cancer centers based on data from 367,297 patients treated between 2009 and 2012. The highest proportions of patients (median >75%) are provided with SSC in breast and colorectal cancer centers, whereas the median is below 30% in skin cancer centers. Variation between centers and center types is high.

Frequency of psycho‐oncologic and social service counseling in cancer centers relative to center site and hospital characteristics: Findings from 879 center sites in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy

“…The current study is following up on recent reports regarding the use of POC and SSC . These reports demonstrated an increase in counseling percentages among certified centers over time and differences between center types, with the highest percentages noted in breast cancer centers and lower percentages noted in centers specializing in the treatment of prostate, lung, and skin cancers.…”

“…Efforts have been undertaken in various countries to ensure that every patient has access to POC and SSC during hospitalization or afterward, some of which are specified in accreditation/certification programs. In the German Cancer Society's cancer center certification system, the requirements for certification and recertification include routine provision of POC and SSC for every patient . The German Cancer Society certifies cancer centers to ensure that high‐quality standards are met in cancer care.…”

“…Although the requirements are by and large identical across the 9 types of center (eg, breast cancer centers and skin cancer centers), the percentages of patients making use of these services have been shown to vary widely both across and also within different types of cancer center . Although differences across center types are commonly, and possibly falsely, attributed to patient differences (eg, high needs and demands among [female] patients with breast cancer, fear of stigma and conflicting role expectations in [male] patients with prostate cancer), differences between hospitals within individual types of cancer centers are more difficult to explain.…”

Quality assessment in prostate cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society

“…Comparison with other center types that have the same criteria show that implementation is higher in breast and colorectal cancer centers [20,21], which may be due to gender-specific patient preferences.…”

Kennzahlenanalyse der DKG-zertifizierten Prostatakrebszentren des Jahres 2015

“…Dies ist z. T. für einzelne Kennzahlen an anderer Stelle erfolgt, z. B. für die hier nicht thematisierten psychosozialen Kennzahlen zum Sozialdienst und der Psychoonkologie, für die jedem Patienten in DKG-zertifizierten Zentren Zugang gewährt werden muss [6,11]. Für weitere deskriptive Auswertungen zu den hier vorgestellten Kennzahlen sei daher auf den Jahresbericht für Prostatakrebs-und Onkologische Zentren verwiesen [2,3].…”