Saha, Pratyusha;
Sheikh, Jameela;
Hebbar, Meghnaa;
Sundar, Sudha;
Lanceley, Anne;
(2022)
Identifying strategies to support gynaecological cancer patients and carers during COVID-19: Learning from patient–charity interactions.
European Journal of Cancer Care
10.1111/ecc.13682.
(In press).
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Abstract
Objectives: Supporting cancer patients during COVID-19 has posed unique challenges for health care providers. We investigated patient and carer–charity interactions to explore the role of charities and identify concerns expressed by patients. The study aims to address these concerns and learn how health care providers can support patients. Methods: Digital interactions on forum posts and social media were collected from four gynaecological cancer charities from March-May 2019 (before COVID-19) and 2020 (during COVID-19). Thematic analysis of forum posts and semistructured charity staff interviews investigated patient and charity-focused perspectives. Results: Thematic analysis of forum posts and charity staff interviews (n = 8) revealed three consistent themes: (1) Health care changes and the effect on cancer management concerns; (2) psychological impact of lockdown isolation and anxiety of changed treatment; (3) the complexity of shielding guidance on self-risk assessment. Patients valued cancer charities' responses through digital and conventional methods (webinars, social media, forums, and websites). Conclusion: Gynaecological cancer patients had concerns about the risk and impact of changed treatment plans, contacting charities as the first port of call when anxious not to burden health systems. Real-time analysis of charities' communications can be used to identify concerns and to proactively provide patient support, together with health care providers.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Identifying strategies to support gynaecological cancer patients and carers during COVID-19: Learning from patient–charity interactions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ecc.13682 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13682 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Cancer Care published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, gynaecology, cancer, psychosocial, support, charity |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health > Womens Cancer UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10154127 |
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