The benefits and barriers of accessing cancer support services

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dc.contributor.authorO'Sullivan, Maria
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-11T14:31:12Z
dc.date.available2024-10-11T14:31:12Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Cancer is a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Ireland, rising cancer incidence means that the burden on society will continue to increase. Recent recognition of the large impact of psychological distress on patients with cancer has led to suggestions to use support centres to mitigate this distress. Thus, the benefits of participation and barriers to attendance must be explored. Aims & Objectives: To systematically review scientific literature and determine the: (i) Sociodemographic composition of cancer support centres. (ii) Benefits of support services to patients with cancer. (iii) Barriers/facilitators to support centre attendance. Methods: Electronic searches were carried out PubMed and the Cumulative Indexto Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAL) databases using key words addressing the research question. Ten articles were selected and critically appraised. Results: A summary of article results showed that while various groups remain underrepresented in support centres, new evidence suggests this may be changing. Increased support service attendance was linked to greater benefits. No change in anxiety or depression with attendance were seen. Barriers to attendance were identified. Conclusions: The literature showed benefits to support services, but long term benefits must be further investigated. Future research quantitatively assessing benefits of support services, using validated assessment instruments are necessary. Psychological benefits of participation are still unclear. Validated questionnaires to assess the barriers to attendance must be developed. Lastly, there is a lack of studies on the benefits of and barriers to support services participation in the Irish population.en
dc.description.statusPeer-revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationO'Sullivan, M. (2021) 'The benefits and barriers of accessing cancer support services', UCC Student Medical Journal, Vol. 2, pp. 15-28. https://doi.org/10.33178/SMJ.2021.1.2en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.33178/SMJ.2021.1.2
dc.identifier.endpage28
dc.identifier.issn2737-7237
dc.identifier.journalabbrevUCC SMJ
dc.identifier.journaltitleUCC Student Medical Journalen
dc.identifier.startpage15
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16555
dc.identifier.urihttps://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/smj/article/view/4315
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUCC Medical Research and Technology Societyen
dc.relation.urihttps://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/smj/article/view/4315/6474
dc.rights© 2021, the Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
dc.sourceBatch uploaden
dc.subjectCancer support servicesen
dc.subjectAccessing careen
dc.subjectBarriers to accessing careen
dc.titleThe benefits and barriers of accessing cancer support servicesen
dc.typePeer-reviewed Articleen
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