The importance of nutrition, diet and lifestyle advice for cancer survivors – the role of nursing staff and interprofessional workers

Abstract

Aims and objectives. To examine current guidelines and the evidence base to illustrate the importance of nutrition, diet and lifestyle advice to support people who have survived cancer and help them integrate back into normal life, improve their quality of life and potentially improve their chance of long-term survival. Background. Cancer survivors need to know about nutrition and other lifestyle behaviour changes to help them recover and potentially reduce the risk of the same cancer recurring or a new cancer developing. From this perspective, frontline registered nurses are in a prime position to support cancer survivors who are in their care. Design. Discursive paper. Methods. On the basis of the international research evidence and a critical analysis of recent policy and practice literature, themes emerged, which illustrate the importance of nutrition, diet and lifestyle advice for cancer survivors. This paper discusses the need for more focused education and greater interprofessional working for quality care delivery. Conclusion. New professional guidance for emerging frontline nurses indicates they should be able to provide appropriate and more consistent advice on nutritional issues, physical activity and weight management, although more research is needed to understand the right mode of nutrition training. Additionally, interprofessional working needs improving as well as encouraging cancer survivors to respond. Relevance to clinical practice. High-quality nutrition education and training is required for nurses working across both the acute and primary care sectors. They require this to effectively monitor and advise patients and to know when, where and from whom they can access more specialist help. Interprofessional collaborative working across multi-centre settings (National Health Service and non-National Health Service) is key to provide the best effective care and support for cancer survivors.Key words: cancer, education, nursing practice, nutrition, practice development AimsThere is an increasing body of evidence that lifestyle interventions including a healthy diet, weight management and increased physical activity can influence the rate of cancer progression and improve overall survival (Davies et al. 2011, Pekmezi & Demark-Wahnefried 2011. When appropriate, it is important that after completing treatment, cancer survivors know how they can alter eating patterns and lifestyle behaviour and be able to follow current diet and lifestyle recommendations to help them recover, improve their quality of life and potentially reduce the risk of the same cancer recurring or a new cancer developing. However, there exist different needs and challenges with respect to educating both the public and health professionals to understand the current and evidence base of nutritional benefits and their impact on sustaining recovery. Following the ongoing plans to restructure and modernise the Health Service in the UK (Department of Health 2010a), the healthcare workforce is challenged with the need to work differen...

Nurses' Perceptions Regarding the Prevalence, Detection, and Causes of Malnutrition in Canadian Hospitals

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Barriers and Facilitators of Healthy Diet and Exercise Among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors: Implications for Behavioral Interventions

“…Recommended healthy lifestyle behaviors for survivors include healthy eating and engaging in physical activity. 1 These health behaviors are expected to reduce risk for recurrence and new cancers, [2][3][4] to improve quality of life, and to extend survival. 5 Adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors, a substantial and growing population, 6 demonstrate poor adherence to these recommendations, [7][8][9][10] which is alarming given their increased risk for cancer recurrence, long-term health problems, and poor quality of life.…”

Where is the nurse in nutritional care?

“…Nurses are expected to deliver healthy diet education (DiMaria-Ghalili et al, 2014;Perry, Gallagher, & Duffield, 2015;The Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2010). However, nurses working across both primary and secondary care have inadequate knowledge in both their nutrition education and their pivotal role in helping to detect risk factors in order to improve patients' health outcomes (DiMaria-Ghalili et al, 2014;Murphy & Girot, 2013). Given concerns over the increasing strong links between diet and diseases, nutritional training for nurses is recommended to ensure them providing accurate information to patients and clients on nutrition issues (DiMaria-Ghalili et al, 2014).…”