FORUM TRANSLATING PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE: GUIDELINES INTO ACTION

Clinical practice guidelines for the management of psychosocial distress in people with cancer have been produced in Australia and North America and these provide a framework for the provision of psychosocial care for patients with cancer and their families. However, psychosocial care is not yet a routine part of oncology care and within the psycho-oncology literature there is little practical advice about the best way to achieve this. This article describes a community-based approach to this challenge that builds on existing resources and responds to the concerns of those working in the field. It is proposed that this approach provides a way forward in translating evidence-based psychosocial care practice guidelines into routine oncology care. The diagnosis and subsequent treatment of cancer is a major life stress that is followed by a range of well described psychological, social, physical and spiritual difficulties.1-5 Further, the overall experience of cancer can be seen as a series of stressful events as the person moves through the illness continuum from diagnosis, to treatment and rehabilitation or palliation.