Considerations in developing and delivering a non-pharmacological intervention for symptom management in lung cancer: the views of health care professionals

Abstract

Background A respiratory distress symptom cluster has
recently been identified in lung cancer associated with breathlessness,cough and fatigue, and the study reported here is partof a wider body of work being undertaken to develop a novel non-pharmacological intervention (NPI) for the management of this symptomcluster. The current paper reports the views of health care professionals (HCPs) involved with cancer care regarding the most appropriate ways of developing and delivering such a novel intervention.
Methods Five focus groups, supplemented with additional
telephone interviews, were conducted with a range of both
community- and acute-based HCPs involved in symptom
management for lung cancer patients. Participants included
oncologists, palliative care consultants, specialist nurses,
occupational therapists and physiotherapists. The focus
groups were transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVIVO
to support a framework analysis approach.
Results The current delivery of NPIs was found to be ad hoc
and varied between sites both in terms of what was delivered
and by which health care professionals. The provision of
NPIs within acute medical settings faced common problems
concerning staffing time and space, and there was a recognition that the preference of most patients to make as few hospital visits as possible also complicated NPI teaching. Moreover, there may only be a small window of opportunity in which to effectively teach lung cancer patients a novel NPI as the period between diagnosis and the onset of severe symptoms is often short.
Discussion The participants agreed that the novel symptom
management NPI should be individually personalised to the
needs of each patient and be available for patients when they become receptive to it. Moreover, they agreed that the
intervention would be most effective if delivered to patients individually rather than in groups, outside acute medicalsettings where possible and closer to patient’s homes, should be delivered by an HCP rather than a trained volunteer or lay person and should involve informal carers wherever practicable.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Richard Wagland: orcid.org/0000-0003-1825-7587

ORCID for C. Bailey: orcid.org/0000-0002-7528-6264

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics