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Occupational therapy needs of patients with thoracic cancer at the time of diagnosis: findings of a dedicated rehabilitation service

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Abstract

Purpose

Guidelines recommend screening patients with cancer to identify their rehabilitation needs. To help quantify this area of need and associated workload from an occupational therapy perspective in patients with thoracic cancer, we report the experiences of a dedicated rehabilitation service.

Methods

Consecutive patients were screened soon after diagnosis using items associated with occupational performance in the Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral for Care questionnaire. Those reporting predetermined levels of distress underwent a full occupational therapy evaluation; this generated a problem list from which individualised goals and interventions were instigated.

Results

Of 540 patients screened, 273 (51 %) reported levels of distress which warranted a full occupational therapy assessment. Of these, 260 (95 %) reported a total of 681 problems (median of 4 [2–5] per patient). Mostly these lay within the domain of self care (553, 78 %) in the categories of transfers, functional mobility and bathing/showering. A total of 646 goals (median of 2 [1–3] per patient) were formulated, resulting in 652 individual interventions, most frequently the provision of equipment (79 %) or advice (32 %) and referral to another professional/agency (23 %). Patients considered that most goals were achieved (98 %) and that the provision of equipment was useful (97 %).

Conclusions

About half of patients with thoracic cancer screened have occupational therapy needs around the time of diagnosis. Problems are mostly in the area of self-care, with equipment provision the most frequent intervention provided. Future work should examine the efficacy of occupational therapy interventions further.

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Acknowledgments

We thank colleagues for their support, in particular Helena Alvey, Cheryl Percival, Kathy Blythe, Julie Upton, members of the project steering group and the lung cancer nurse specialists: Sandra Hummerston, Jill Allsop, Claire Darlington, Louise Greenfield and Katie Manning. The SPARC© questionnaire was used with permission of Professor Sam Ahmedzai, University of Sheffield, UK. This work was supported by Macmillan Cancer Support who had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, writing of the report or decision to submit the paper for publication. MM is funded by an NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship award. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

Conflicts of interest

None of the authors have any conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Therapy, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, City Campus, Nottingham, NG5 1PB, UK

    Rachel Bentley

  2. Department of Palliative Medicine, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, City Campus, Nottingham, NG5 1PB, UK

    Asmah Hussain, Matthew Maddocks & Andrew Wilcock

  3. University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG5 1PB, UK

    Andrew Wilcock

Authors
  1. Rachel Bentley
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  2. Asmah Hussain
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  3. Matthew Maddocks
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  4. Andrew Wilcock
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Wilcock.

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Bentley, R., Hussain, A., Maddocks, M. et al. Occupational therapy needs of patients with thoracic cancer at the time of diagnosis: findings of a dedicated rehabilitation service. Support Care Cancer 21, 1519–1524 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1687-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1687-1

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