Allied health professional services for oncology outpatients: an Australian comparative study

Psychosocial interventions used by the allied health team are now seen as making an important contribution to improving the psychological and functional statues of the increasing numbers of patients coping with cancer. However, there is a call from within the Allied Health Professionals (AHP) literature for empirical research to ensure that service delivery is supported by a reliable understanding of the needs of consumers. The present discussion responds to such a call by presenting the comparative findings from two independent studies looking at the needs of oncology out-patients for AHP services in Australia. The first study was completed at the Oncology Day Care Ward at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland. The Brisbane research was subsequently repeated at the Mater Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales. It is the comparative findings from the two projects that are presented here. The impetus for both studies came from a keen desire by the AHP teams of both hospitals to better understand quality of life issues in relation to their oncology outpatients in order to be able to provide appropriate and effective services. The same research instrument was used for both studies so the data are directly comparable. It is the hope and expectation that these findings will be useful to inform the work of other AHP teams who are engaging in the challenging but rewarding task of understanding and meeting the needs of oncology patients and their families for holistic care.