Acceptability of automatic referrals to supportive and palliative care by patients living with advanced lung cancer: qualitative interviews and a co-design process.

Purpose: Timely access to supportive and palliative care (PC) remains a challenge. A proposed solution is to trigger an automatic referral process to PC by pre-determined clinical criteria. This study sought to co-design with patients and providers an automatic PC referral process for patients newly diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

How family physicians introduce palliative care to patients with chronic illnesses.

Objective: Increasing numbers of Canadians living with complex, life-limiting conditions demand high-quality palliative care. Timely access to palliative care can help to reduce stress, improve quality of life, and provide relief for patients and their families. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of family physicians (FPs) regarding the decision and process of introducing palliative care to patients with chronic diseases.

Alberta CancerBridges development of a care plan evaluation measure.

Background: No standardized measures specifically assess cancer survivors' and healthcare providers' experience of Survivor Care Plans (scps). We sought to develop two care plan evaluation (cpe) measures, one for survivors (cpe-s) and one for healthcare providers (cpe-p), examine initial psychometric qualities in Alberta, and assess generalizability in Manitoba, Canada.

Methods: We developed the initial measures using convenience samples of breast ( = 35) and head and neck ( 18) survivors who received scps at the end of active cancer-centre treatment.

A clinic-supported group exercise program for head and neck cancer survivors: managing cancer and treatment side effects to improve quality of life.

Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation of this clinic-supported 12-week progressive strength-training program was to assess the feasibility and impact of an exercise intervention for head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors.

Methods: Recruitment and adherence feasibility, as well as health-related fitness measures and patient-reported symptom management were assessed on the 21 HNC survivors in the exercise program.

Results: Overall, this program was feasible, as indicated by recruitment, adherence, and safety outcomes.

Qualitative evaluation of care plans for Canadian breast and head-and-neck cancer survivors.

Background: Survivorship care plans (scps) have been recommended as a way to ease the transition from active cancer treatment to follow-up care, to reduce uncertainty for survivors in the management of their ongoing health, and to improve continuity of care. The objective of the demonstration project reported here was to assess the value of scps for cancer survivors in western Canada.

Methods: The Alberta CancerBridges team developed, implemented, and evaluated scps for 36 breast and 21 head-and-neck cancer survivors.