Social Work - Theses

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Start date: 2010 × End date: 2019 × Author: BERGER, ILANA ×

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    An exploratory study into the experience of healthcare professionals caring for adolescent and young adults (AYA) with cancer when cure is no longer the goal of care.
    BERGER, ILANA ( 2015)
    Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer are a unique subgroup within oncology due to specific medical and psychosocial needs. Palliative care in AYA oncology is largely an under researched area. Much of the research to date in palliative care has focussed on the paediatric and older adult populations. However, recent research illustrates that clinicians caring for young people with incurable disease identify this work to be challenging, although the reasons for this, and whether there are differences across professional disciplines, remains unknown. This study aimed to provide an understanding of the experience, degree of knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare professionals caring for AYA patients with incurable cancer. The study was based at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, a specialist cancer centre in Melbourne. A practice based, qualitative research methodology was employed comprising two phases. Phase I involved focus groups. Phase II involved semi structured in-depth interviews. Results are described by professional discipline. They highlight the challenges and enablers to practice, reported by professionals. The main challenges faced were: a lack of age-appropriate knowledge, experience and communication skills and insufficient organisational prioritisation of appropriate care for AYAs. The main enablers of good clinical care for AYAs were: a multidisciplinary approach to practice; age-appropriate education and skills and; support for staff. Recommendations arising from this research include a multipronged approach to improving service delivery comprising three areas. First, targeted professional development, education and training in age-appropriate care and communication. Second, greater organisational commitment to clinician skill development, increasing multidisciplinary forums for care planning, formalising staff support and improving hospital wide age-appropriate resources. Third, the development of policies, procedures and guidelines for these key areas.