Nurses attitudes and practices towards provision of survivorship care for people with a haematological cancer on completion of treatment

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess cancer nurses' perceptions of responsibility, confidence levels and practice in relation to survivorship care for people with a haematological malignancy on completion of treatment. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional survey was conducted. An online survey was distributed to members of two Australian professional bodies. RESULTS: A total of 310 cancer nurses participated in the study, representing a response rate of 28%. The participants generally agreed that all survivorship care items were part of their role. Of the 17 survivorship care items, the three items receiving the lowest confidence scores were discussing fertility issues, discussing employment and financial issues and discussing how to identify signs of cancer recurrence. The least performed survivorship care items were discussing fertility issues, communicating survivorship care with primary healthcare team (i.e. general practitioners) and discussing sexuality issues. Older age, more years of experience, having a post-graduate qualification and working in non-metropolitan area were associated with higher levels of perception of responsibilities and confidence (p < 0.05). The top ranked barriers to survivorship care were reported to be lack of end-of-treatment consultation dedicated to survivorship care, time and an appropriate physical space for delivering care. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer nurses perceive key aspects of survivorship care to be part of their role, however there remains variations in practice and confidence with respect to implementation of survivorship care practices. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Interventions that focus on enhancing the capability of cancer nurses and eliminating barriers identified in this study have the potential to improve quality survivorship care provision.