Enhancing integrated psychosocial oncology through leveraging the oncology social worker's role in collaborative care.

OBJECTIVE: The collaborative care model is effective in delivering evidence-based psychosocial oncology care. Social workers comprise the largest proportion of psychosocial oncology providers in the United States. This study describes the process and perceptions of clinical oncology social workers at a large comprehensive cancer center who transitioned to practicing as care managers within collaborative care. METHODS: We describe the process of engaging clinical oncology social workers as care managers as part of the implementation of collaborative care at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. We then present survey results from 2017 and 2020 of participating social workers' perceptions of the collaborative care model's advantages and disadvantages. RESULTS: Since the implementation of collaborative care at our institution, key functions of the social worker as care manager were defined. The majority of social workers surveyed in 2017 and 2020 agreed that collaborative care led to improved clinical outcomes, timely access to care, and greater patient satisfaction. They also reported professional advantages: more interdisciplinary team integration, working at the top of their licensure, and improved job satisfaction. Challenges identified included missing important patient needs and creating extra work burden for social workers. CONCLUSIONS: Oncology social workers can be successfully deployed as care managers within a collaborative care model, thus leveraging existing clinical staff to address unmet psychosocial patient needs. This model is feasible and sustainable in a large academic cancer center, requires minimal additional resources, and is favorably viewed by participating social workers in terms of perceived benefits to patients and their own professional roles.

Psychosocial care for patients and their families is integral to supportive care in cancer: MASCC position statement.

This position paper, written on behalf of the MASCC Psychosocial Study Group, reviews the most common psychosocial concerns and needs of cancer patients during all phases of the cancer continuum, from diagnosis to death or survivorship. Developments in psychosocial care at both individual and systems levels are surveyed and summarized, along with gaps in knowledge and research and needed improvements in the dissemination and application of acquired knowledge and expertise. The roles of culture, spirituality, and religion as part of psychosocial care are reviewed, along with families' and caregivers' specific psychosocial concerns and needs, and areas of needed psychosocial interventions in supportive cancer care. Deficits in recognizing and meeting patients' psychosocial needs at the system level are examined, and international guidelines and models of psychosocial care are reviewed, including their potential applications to local contexts. The paper calls for a shift to a new paradigm of care through adoption of an integrated approach to identify and meet the psychosocial needs of cancer patients and survivors as part of supportive care worldwide.

Health and supportive care needs of young adult cancer patients and survivors.

PURPOSE: A sizable body of literature exists for young adult survivors of childhood cancer but relatively little is known about the health and supportive care needs of older adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. This project assessed priority health and supportive care needs for young adult patients and off-treatment survivors. METHODS: 1,088 cancer patients and off-treatment survivors (age 18-39, diagnosed between the ages of 15-35) rank ordered a series of health and supportive care needs. Item rank scores were calculated to prioritize lists of needs for patients receiving treatment and off-treatment survivors, respectively. Differences in rankings based on respondent age, age at diagnosis, years since diagnosis, gender and treatment status (currently receiving treatment or off-treatment) were examined. RESULTS: Availability of state-of-the-art treatment specific to this age-group and having adequate health insurance were the most highly-ranked health care needs. Support from family and friends were the most highly ranked supportive care needs, although younger respondents attributed greater importance to support from family and friends. Older respondents attributed greater importance to availability of age-appropriate information, psychological counseling, and being responsible for one's own health care and decision-making. Younger respondents reported significantly higher needs for fertility information and services and for scheduling treatments to fit their lifestyles. CONCLUSION: Needs of adolescents and young adults with cancer vary along a continuum of care, from diagnosis and treatment through survivorship. Findings emphasize the value of age-appropriate resources and peer support. The study offers direction for delivering services to what previously has been an underserved population.