Palliative care interventions for patients with head and neck cancer: protocol for a scoping review.

Introduction: A head and neck cancer (HNC) diagnosis significantly impacts a patient's quality of life (QOL). Palliative care potentially improves their QOL. We will conduct a scoping review to identify existing knowledge about palliative care interventions for patients with HNC.

Initiation of distress screening in oral cancer clinics in Sri Lanka.

Objective: This paper describes the initiation of distress screening in oral cancer clinics, among patients with oral cancer in Sri Lanka, addressing the service gap of lack of psychosocial oncology services. This involved validation of the Sinhala version of the Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List (PL) as an adjustment disorder (AD) screening tool.

Methods: The DT and PL were translated into the Sinhala language and cross-culturally adopted by the "modified Delphi" technique.

Supportive care for oral cancer survivors in COVID-19 lockdown.

Objective: Availability and accessibility to routine health care services for cancer patients were a cause of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, which induced stringent enforcement of lockdown and social distancing in Sri Lanka. Oral cancer patients who have undergone surgery recently encountered problems such as pain, difficulty in swallowing. However, accessing routine treatment and obtaining medication emerged as the most pressing concerns among them.