Opportunities forEditorial: Improving Psychosocial Care for Cancer Survivors

Editorial - open access

"The quality of psychosocial care provided to patients with cancer
has received increased attention since the 2008 publication of the
Institute of Medicine (IOM) report entitled “Cancer Care for the
Whole Patient: Addressing Psychosocial Health Needs.”1 The report
concluded that, despite evidence for the effectiveness of psychosocial
care, many patients who could benefit from these services do not
receive them. Among the report’s main recommendations was that
processes should be in place to identify patients’ psychosocial needs
and then link patients with appropriate services to address those
needs. Since the report’s publication, there have been numerous efforts
to evaluate the extent to which psychosocial care is being provided
consistent with the IOM recommendations.......

"......The efforts of the last decade have established the importance of
ensuring access to psychosocial services for cancer survivors. Moving
forward, we need to determine the most effective practices and how
best to deliver them across diverse settings. Distress, like cancer, is not
a single entity, and one treatment does not fit all. Psychosocial
oncology needs to increase its research in comparative effectiveness,
health services, and outcomes. The ultimate impact of screening
programs, provider discussions, and increased access to
psychosocial care hinges on the treatment. The next few years will
include countless natural experiments as screening programs are
implemented. If we are proactive, we can use these data to create
successful systems in which all cancer survivors will have some discussion with their providers about psychosocial care, whether
or not they choose to use psychosocial services."