School of Applied Psychology & The Hopkins Centre, Menzies Health Institute Queensland Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
School of Women's and Children's Health, UNSW Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia.
Psychooncology. 2022 Aug;31(8):1313-1321. doi: 10.1002/pon.5929. Epub 2022 Apr 2.
This study aimed to scope the psychological support practices of Australian health professionals providing supportive care to adults with primary brain tumor.
Health professionals from multidisciplinary organizations and cancer support services completed an online survey focused on psychological support for people with brain tumor (PwBT) and family members, and perceived barriers or gaps in support provision.
107 professionals, mainly from psychology (45%), nursing (20%), and social work (10%) backgrounds, completed the survey. Scope of practice differed according to discipline, with psychologists and nurses most likely to screen for psychological distress (71%-76%), and psychologists more typically providing at least one psychological support session (78%). Psychologists were more likely to screen for cognitive impairment (31%), whereas nurses and social workers more commonly provided family-based support (62%-73%). Psychological support was more frequently provided in the long-term management phase (78%) than early post-diagnosis/treatment (45%). System-level barriers to accessing psychological support were most frequently identified, which included limited resources and funding, insufficient staff time, lengthy waitlists and costs, poor service coordination, and lack of staff with brain tumor-specific training.
The provision of psychological support for PwBT varies according to discipline, setting and management phase. Further research on different models of psychosocial care is needed to inform strategies to address organizational and policy factors impacting professionals' scope of practice.
本研究旨在概述澳大利亚卫生专业人员为原发性脑肿瘤成人提供支持性护理时的心理支持实践。
来自多学科组织和癌症支持服务的卫生专业人员完成了一项针对脑肿瘤患者（PwBT）及其家属心理支持以及支持提供中存在的障碍或差距的在线调查。
共有 107 名专业人员完成了调查，他们主要来自心理学（45%）、护理（20%）和社会工作（10%）背景。实践范围因学科而异，心理学家和护士最有可能对心理困扰进行筛查（71%-76%），而心理学家更有可能提供至少一次心理支持服务（78%）。心理学家更有可能对认知障碍进行筛查（31%），而护士和社会工作者更常提供以家庭为基础的支持（62%-73%）。心理支持在长期管理阶段（78%）比早期诊断/治疗后（45%）更常提供。最常发现的是获得心理支持的系统层面障碍，包括资源和资金有限、员工时间不足、候补名单长且费用高、服务协调不善以及缺乏具有脑瘤特定培训的员工。
根据学科、环境和管理阶段的不同，为 PwBT 提供的心理支持也有所不同。需要进一步研究不同的心理社会关怀模式，以制定策略来解决影响专业人员实践范围的组织和政策因素。
