title: Qualitative evaluation of care plans for Canadian breast and head-and-neck cancer survivors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Survivorship care plans (scps) have been recommended as a way to ease the transition from active cancer treatment to follow-up care, to reduce uncertainty for survivors in the management of their ongoing health, and to improve continuity of care. The objective of the demonstration project reported here was to assess the value of scps for cancer survivors in western Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Alberta CancerBridges team developed, implemented, and evaluated scps for 36 breast and 21 head-and-neck cancer survivors. For the evaluation, we interviewed 12 of the survivors, 9 nurses who delivered the scps, and 3 family physicians who received the scps (n = 24 in total). We asked about satisfaction, usefulness, emotional impact, and communication value. We collected written feedback from the three groups about positive aspects of the scps and possible improvements (n = 85). We analyzed the combined data using qualitative thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survivors, nurses, and family physicians agreed that scps could ease the transition to survivorship partly by enhancing communication between survivors and care providers. Survivors appreciated the individualized attention and the comprehensiveness of the plans. They described positive emotional impacts, but wanted a way to ensure that their physicians received the scps. Nurses and physicians responded positively, but expressed concern about the time required to implement the plans. Suggestions for streamlining the process included providing survivors with scp templates in advance, auto-populating the templates for the nurses, and creating summary pages for physicians.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest ways in which scps could help to improve the transition to cancer survivorship and provide starting points for larger feasibility studies.
authors: Department of Psychosocial and Spiritual Resources, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, AB. ; Department of Oncology, Palliative Care Division, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Collie
authors: Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. ; Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: McCormick
authors: Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. ; Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Waller
authors: Department of Oncology, Calgary Region Breast Health Program, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Railton
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Head-and-Neck Tumour Group, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Shirt
authors: Comprehensive Breast Care Program, Community Oncology, Alberta Health Services-Cancer Care, Edmonton, AB.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Chobanuk
authors: Breast Cancer Supportive Care Foundation, Calgary, AB.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Taylor
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Head-and-Neck Tumour Group, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Lau
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Head-and-Neck Tumour Group, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Hao
authors: Department of Oncology, Calgary Region Breast Health Program, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Walley
authors: Cancer survivor and writer.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Kapusta
authors: Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, AB.
authors: A A
authors: AA
authors: Joy
authors: Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. ; Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: L E
authors: LE
authors: Carlson
authors: Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. ; Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Giese-Davis
keywords: Care plans; breast cancer; communication; head-and-neck cancer; qualitative analysis; survivorship