Psychosocial rehabilitation of cancer patients after curative therapy

Abstract

The concept of rehabilitation of cancer patients is based on the relatively recent awareness of the strong interrelations existing between physical, psychological and social aspects of human life. Cancer potentially disrupts all of these primary components of quality of life. The aim of rehabilitation is to promote global physical and psychosocial adjustment by acting at all modifiable levels, namely strengthening individual coping resources through psychotherapy, improving quantity and quality of familial and social support, and restoring optimal physical functioning.

Shoulder and neck morbidity in quality of life after surgery for head and neck cancer

“…24 The significantly worse outcome for limitations because of physical problems in the patient group compared with the control group shows that physical rehabilitation may be important; but the reduced social functioning and importance of depression show that, in addition to training of physical skills, psychosocial rehabilitation should also be addressed. 25 Notable was the significantly better outcome in the pain domain for the patients compared with the control group. Although approximately 35% of the patients had pain related to the surgery, pain seemed to have less impact in the patient group.…”

Barriers to rehabilitative care for young breast cancer survivors: a qualitative understanding

“…In one study, the overall health-related quality of life decline in young women with breast cancer was twice as great as that of cancer-related losses in older women [22]. Further, treatment complications may involve side effects and physical sequelae, which may lead to "significant changes in family roles, employment problems, or other difficulties in personal and social functioning" [30].…”

Can we predict which head and neck cancer survivors develop fears of recurrence?

“…In addition, all survivors, even those who do not necessarily suffer long-term impact to QoL, may experience concerns about cancer recurrence. Fear of recurrence has been shown to be prevalent in cancer survivors with reports ranging from 5% to 89% [8,9]. Fear of recurrence has been described as the single largest concern of breast cancer patients [10] and has been demonstrated to persist at least up to 9 years following treatment [11].…”