title: Effectiveness of case management as a cross-sectoral healthcare provision for women with breast cancer.
abstract: Case management (CM) programs are intended to improve care coordination for cancer patients. This quasi-experimental, controlled study evaluated whether such a program was effective in improving health-related quality of life and reducing the psychological distress of breast cancer patients.
  
  
  
  For the study, 126 patients with CM and 118 patients with treatment as usual (TAU) were surveyed at baseline, a 6-month follow-up and a 12-month follow-up. Comparisons of the two groups with regard to quality of life (Short Form-8, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-11; primary outcome) and psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, distress thermometer; secondary outcome) were conducted.
  
  
  
  Univariate t-tests regarding the primary and secondary outcomes demonstrated improvements in the relevant outcomes at the 6-month and 12-month follow-ups for the intervention group as well as for the control group. An analysis of covariance revealed that the controls showed a higher level of physical quality of life at the 12-month follow-up than the other time points and no differences at 6 months after the baseline.
  
  
  
  The tested CM model did not improve the quality of life or psychological well-being of the patients beyond treatment as usual. Possible reasons include that the treatment was already of high standards in the control group or that there are possibly different impacts than found in the literature regarding different forms of organization in CM. The need for and the tailoring of this CM model as well as the transfer of CM to other oncological indications remain to be clarified. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bleich
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Cathrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Büscher
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Melchior
authors.affiliation: Beta Institute, Institute for Applied Health Care Management, Sociomedical Research and Development, Augsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grochocka
authors.affiliation: Resource Lab/Institute of Materials Resource Management, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thorenz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.|Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Research, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Watzke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: cancer; case management; oncology; psychosocial care; quality of life