Abstract
Objective
Active self‐management practices may help head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors to deal with challenges to their physical, functional, social, and psychological well‐being presented by HNC and its treatment. This study investigates the factors perceived by HNC survivors to act as barriers to their active self‐management following primary treatment.
Methods
In this qualitative study, 27 HNC survivors identified through 4 designated cancer centres in Ireland participated in face‐to‐face semistructured interviews. Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Four themes (and associated subthemes) describing barriers to survivors' active self‐management were identified: emotional barriers (eg, fear of recurrence), symptom‐related barriers (eg, loss of taste), structural barriers (eg, access to appropriate health services), and self‐evaluative barriers (eg, interpersonal self‐evaluative concerns).
Conclusions
This is the first study to describe HNC survivors' views about barriers to their active self‐management after treatment. The findings have important implications for self‐management research and intervention development concerning HNC survivorship.
Active self‐management practices may help head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors to deal with challenges to their physical, functional, social, and psychological well‐being presented by HNC and its treatment. This study investigates the factors perceived by HNC survivors to act as barriers to their active self‐management following primary treatment.
Methods
In this qualitative study, 27 HNC survivors identified through 4 designated cancer centres in Ireland participated in face‐to‐face semistructured interviews. Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Four themes (and associated subthemes) describing barriers to survivors' active self‐management were identified: emotional barriers (eg, fear of recurrence), symptom‐related barriers (eg, loss of taste), structural barriers (eg, access to appropriate health services), and self‐evaluative barriers (eg, interpersonal self‐evaluative concerns).
Conclusions
This is the first study to describe HNC survivors' views about barriers to their active self‐management after treatment. The findings have important implications for self‐management research and intervention development concerning HNC survivorship.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2382-2388 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Psycho-Oncology |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 29 Jun 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2018 |
Keywords
- cancer
- cancer survivorship
- head and neck cancer
- oncology
- psycho‐oncology
- qualitative
- self‐management
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (accepted author manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Wiley at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pon.4835. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.