Background: With the accelerating accumulation of survivors of Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL), there is increasing recognition of the importance of normalization of their lives and incorporation of healthy behaviours into their lifestyles in order to achieve optimal health outcomes and minimise the risk of late adverse effects from their prior curative chemo/radiotherapy.
Objective: In order to identify and address unmet patient needs within a multidisciplinary haematology late effects (LE) clinic, an innovative model of nurse-led survivorship care was developed to enhance HL survivors’ awareness of individual health risks, the benefits of adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours and reduce psychosocial distress.
Intervention: The study intervention is manual based, and delivered to patients during two face-to-face nurse-led consultations. In the nurse-led consultations information is presented to survivors in an education package directed specifically at their individual health needs informed by their individual treatment history. Screening for emotional distress is undertaken using the locally developed Late Effects Supportive Care Needs Screening Tool. Each survivor receives an individualized survivorship care plan (SCP) which is shared with their General Practitioner (GP).
Results: Thirty survivor participants and 30 healthy participant controls have been recruited to date. Data collection is currently underway using two validated tools: the General Health Index (GHRI) and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP – II), which measure whether receiving a health promoting intervention from a specialist Advanced Practice Nurse results in an improvement in knowledge of, and motivation to adopt, healthy behaviours.
Conclusion: This innovative nurse-led model of survivorship follow-up is based on best available evidence. Early indications suggest that this innovative model of care is an acceptable and feasible nurse-led intervention and may be useful for the development of other nurse-led models of cancer survivorship care in the future.