Supportive Care Needs After Gynecologic Cancer: Where Does Sexual Health Fit in?

McCallum, Megan K.; Jolicoeur, Lynne; Lefebvre, Monique; Babchishin, Lyzon; Robert-Chauret, Stéphanie; Le, Tien; Lebel, Sophie

doi:10.1188/14.onf.297-306

Cited by 49 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Several reviews [6][7][8][9] as well as original studies [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] have described the prevalence of different supportive care needs in both breast and gynecological cancer. In previous research, the need for additional medical information on the disease has been consistently reported to be highly prevalent in both breast [6,10,16,17,29] and gynecological cancer [7,9,10,12,13,16,24,25,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supportive care needs and quality of life in patients with breast and gynecological cancer attending inpatient rehabilitation. A prospective study

Faller

Hass²,

Engehausen³

et al. 2019

Acta Oncologica

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Background: Among patients with breast or gynecological cancer, supportive care needs are both highly prevalent and enduring. However, little is known about whether meeting patients' needs is accompanied by increased quality of life (QoL). We aimed to explore patients' supportive care needs reported at the beginning of inpatient rehabilitation and examined whether meeting these needs resulted in improved QoL. Material and methods: In a multicenter, prospective cohort study with 2 measurement occasions (beginning and end of inpatient rehabilitation), 292 patients with breast and gynecological cancer (mean age 55 years; 71% breast cancer) were enrolled. In 73%, time since diagnosis was longer than 6 months. We obtained self-reports of supportive care needs in 12 domains and measured QoL using the EORTC QLQ-C30 functioning subscales. Results: At the beginning of inpatient rehabilitation, top-ranking severe supportive care needs concerned coordination of care (48%), medical information (45%), alleviation of physical symptoms (42%) and support with improving health behaviors (36%). At the end of inpatient rehabilitation, all needs assessed declined significantly, although many patients still expressed strong needs in some domains. However, meeting patients' needs was accompanied by improvements in all functioning subscales. Conclusions: This is the first study to show that meeting breast and gynecological cancer patients' supportive care needs during inpatient rehabilitation resulted in improved QoL. Given the considerable proportions of patients still reporting unmet needs at the end of their stay, stronger and continuing efforts seem warranted to meet these needs and thus further increase QoL. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supportive care needs and quality of life in patients with breast and gynecological cancer attending inpatient rehabilitation. A prospective study

Faller

Hass²,

Engehausen³

et al. 2019

Acta Oncologica

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“…We found only one dyadic intervention for women and their caregivers. Given the significant psycho-sexual effects of gynaecological cancer (McCallum et al, 2014), the high prevalence of concern about the worries of those close to them for both women with gynaecological cancer (Beesley et al, 2008;McCallum et al, 2014) and their caregivers (Butow et al, 2014;Stafford & Judd, 2010) and the desire for 65% of partners to be involved in sexual healthcare provision (Vermeer et al, 2014), it is critical that future interventions consider patient-caregiver dyad and how their collective and individual needs related to issues specific to gynaecological cancer can be best addressed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic literature review of trials of survivorship interventions for women with gynaecological cancer and their caregivers

2019

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Core components of survivorship care include treatment of late and long‐term effects, care coordination, promotion of psychological well‐being, health and addressing special populations’ needs. Women affected by gynaecological cancer and their caregivers can experience disease‐specific issues. This review presents an overview of survivorship interventions that have been trialled among this population. Databases were searched in October/November 2016 to identify eligible studies. Titles, abstracts then full‐text were assessed for inclusion by two reviewers until consensus was reached. Data were abstracted using standard tables. Study quality was independently appraised. Twenty‐eight articles were included (five reviews; 23 trials). In regards to late and long‐term treatment effects, our review found mounting high‐level evidence for the effectiveness of psycho‐educational programmes to improve physical aspects of sexual function and for exercise interventions for reducing fatigue. We also found emerging evidence for nurse‐led follow‐up care to improve care coordination and cognitive behavioural therapy to improve psychological wellbeing. There were gaps in the evidence for interventions to effectively address psychosexual issues specific to gynaecological cancer and needs of caregivers. Further research is required to explore strategies to improving psychosexual concerns after gynaecological cancer and the dynamics and supportive care needs of the patient‐partner dyad.

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“…studies have found that sexual problems are common among patients with female cancers and one of the main issues of concern following treatment [34][35][36]. However, sexuality and intimate issues are often unmet in the healthcare system and support from patient questionnaires are suggested to be especially valuable [34]. The disease-specific modules covering the sexuality and intimate aspects were, however, not predictive of goal setting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our patients' motivation for health-related behavioural changes when diagnosed with cancer therefore underlined the importance of clarification of the roles of the different health care sectors. studies have found that sexual problems are common among patients with female cancers and one of the main issues of concern following treatment [34][35][36]. However, sexuality and intimate issues are often unmet in the healthcare system and support from patient questionnaires are suggested to be especially valuable [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goal setting in cancer rehabilitation and relation to quality of life among women with gynaecological cancer

et al. 2015

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AbstrActbackground. Rehabilitation should be integrated in the routine cancer care of women treated for gynaecological cancers. Goal setting is expected to facilitate the process through patient involvement and motivation. Our knowledge about goal setting in cancer rehabilitation is, however, sparse. Objectives. This study aimed to: 1) analyse rehabilitation goals defined during hospital-based rehabilitation in patients with gynaecological cancer, with regard to number, category, changes over time, and differences between cancer diagnosis, and 2) analyse the association between health-related quality of life and goals defined for rehabilitation. Material and methods. Consecutively, all patients treated surgically for endometrial, ovarian, and cervical cancer were invited for hospital-based rehabilitation at Odense University Hospital, Denmark, including two sessions at the hospital one and three months following surgery and two phone calls for follow-up. Questionnaires from the EORTC were used to prepare patients and facilitate individual goal setting with definitions of up to three goals. All goals were grouped into six categories. results. A total of 151 (63%) patients accepted the invitation including 50 endometrial, 65 ovarian, and 36 cervical cancers patients. All patients defined goals at the first session, 76.4% defined three goals, 21.9% two, and 1.6% had one goal. Physical goals decreased over time but were the most frequent at both sessions (98% and 89%). At both sessions, the social and emotional categories were the second and third most frequent among patients with endometrial and ovarian cancer. Sexual issues were dominant among the cervical cancer patients. Regression analysis showed significant association between quality of life scores and goal setting within the social and emotional domains. conclusion. Goal setting seemed feasible in all problem areas. The EORTC questionnaires were helpful during the process although expectations of the sub-scores being predictive of which areas to address were not convincing.

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Supportive Care Needs After Gynecologic Cancer: Where Does Sexual Health Fit in?

Abstract: Personal perceptions of the implications and meaning of sexual health and vaginal changes create the subjective experience of a need. Discussions of the women's perceptions of their needs and their views of healthy sexuality will help develop effective treatment plans.

Cited by 49 publications

References 41 publications

Supportive care needs and quality of life in patients with breast and gynecological cancer attending inpatient rehabilitation. A prospective study

Supportive care needs and quality of life in patients with breast and gynecological cancer attending inpatient rehabilitation. A prospective study

A systematic literature review of trials of survivorship interventions for women with gynaecological cancer and their caregivers

Goal setting in cancer rehabilitation and relation to quality of life among women with gynaecological cancer

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