Supportive Care Needs and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 2185
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cancer causes physical suffering due to symptoms and treatment, psychological distress due to death anxiety, fear of recurrence or a general uncertainty for the future, loss of social roles, increasing dependency in multiple aspects of daily life, and a spiritual void due to the perceived loss of meaning and purpose in life. In addition, the complexity of the current cancer care in which patients are inserted often causes them bewilderment and confusion, that increases frustration and dejection.
The need for help experienced by cancer patients is commonly defined and classified through the ‘supportive care needs’, which range from physical, informational, emotional, social and spiritual needs and vary according to demographics, cancer stage/ phase/ site/ treatment and other individual factors. The provision by healthcare professionals of the services to meet these needs is defined ‘supportive care’ and is aimed to preserve and improve the quality of life and reduce symptom burden and psychological suffering.
For this Special Issue we invite researchers worldwide working in the field of supportive care in oncology to submit papers about supportive care needs and quality of life of different cancer populations (any cancer stage/ phase/ site/ treatment). Contributions investigating lacks in supportive care (i.e., unmet needs), exploring the relationships between supportive care needs, quality of life and psychological outcomes, addressing assessment-related topics or focusing healthcare providers’/ family caregivers’ point of view about patients’ needs are warmly welcome. Empirical papers (observational/ experimental quantitative/ qualitative/ mixed methods), including systematic reviews and meta-analyses, are all invited and the perspectives of public health, oncology, psychiatry and psychology will be all considered in this Issue.
Prof. Dr. Paolo Leombruni
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Supportive care needs
- Quality of life
- Cancer
- Caregivers
- Psychological comorbidity
- Psychosocial care
- Assessment
