Filling the Gaps in Psychological  

Support for Cancer Patients

by Stephen May

 

The psychological impact of a diagnosis of cancer is well recognised — up to one in four people with cancer will suffer clinically significant distress. Families and caregivers of cancer patients also frequently experience emotional strain, grappling with guilt, helplessness, and an overwhelming caregiving burden.

Addressing these psychological concerns is crucial to ensuring best-practice holistic care and improving the overall quality of life for both patients and their families.

Despite advances in psycho-oncology practice, gaps remain in the accessibility and delivery of psychological support for cancer patients through:

• Limited availability of trained psychological care professionals due to budget constraints.
• Limited service access, especially in rural or resource-restricted settings.
•   Lack of seamless integration of psychological care into broader oncology treatment plans, leaving emotional needs unaddressed.
• Cultural and societal stigma around mental health makes patients hesitant to seek help.

Psychologists and social scientists studying and working in the psycho-oncology space know these gaps mean the difference between just surviving cancer and living a meaningful life is a bridge too far for far too many cancer patients.

Professor Suzanne Chambers AO, a health psychologist and registered nurse and Professor Jeff Dunn AO, a behavioural scientist, have dedicated their long careers to improving outcomes for people with cancer.

They are partners in life and partners in the quest for better patient care, and they encourage policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to do the same — to consider the patient and not just the disease. They believe that as our horizon of knowledge expands, the quest for quality of life rises to stand alongside the preservation of life itself.

And herein lies the challenge. The success of medical advances in treatment across so many cancers brings survival rates higher and higher. More and more people are living with cancer. And while the noble goal of zero cancer deaths is espoused by many in the fight against cancer, support for quality of life lags well behind.

In 2019, Suzanne and Jeff co-edited a special issue, “Re-Imagining Psycho-Oncology”, in the European Journal of Cancer Care, outlining a transformative vision for innovations in psycho‐oncology, drawing on the evolution of new technologies, methodologies, and theoretical approaches to reconsider ambitions in the field.

Their research experience across varying cancer types continued as each, in different but connected ways, pursued the goal of ensuring health and medical science bring measurable benefits to the lives of individuals, their families and communities.

As they came to realise that clinical wellbeing and quality of life are inseparable, despite being so detrimentally decoupled in mainstream models of care, life threw a great big spanner in the works.

In 2022, after a brief period of unwellness, Jeff was diagnosed with Stage 3 Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Given eight weeks to live without treatment, Jeff immediately underwent four rounds of aggressive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Suddenly, Jeff and Suzanne realised that researching and writing about best practice consumer-centred cancer care is one thing. To yearn for it is entirely another. Their understanding of cancer care from a patient’s perspective was strengthened and sharpened into a desire for practical change. A change that starts to fill the gaps in psychological support for cancer patients right now, sustainably and affordably.

The result is the release in 2023 of an innovative universal and low-intensity psychological care intervention called The Health ProfessionalsGuide to Delivering Psychological Care for Adults with Cancer. It is designed and targeted toward existing staff in nursing, psychological care, and medical treatment. It supports health professionals with practical guidance and a comprehensive set of digital resources to increase their confidence in recognising and responding to their patient’s mental health concerns with customised face-to-face or remote care.

Together, Suzanne and Jeff have lived the reality of their work, proving that by caring for each other, we nurture ourselves. Their intervention might just spread the success of that care to many more.