title: Patient navigation and activation interventions for elderly patients with cancer: A systematic review.
abstract: Patient navigation (PN) and patient activation (PA) interventions are widely used to help patients with cancer to manage the disease and the care trajectory. However, the usability and impact of these interventions on older patients and their well-being are unclear. This study aims to show which PN and PA interventions are being used and what impact they have. After systematically searching the literature, we assessed the quality of the publications we found. The publications had to involve at least a subgroup of older people with minimally one abnormal oncologic test result each, and they had to focus on PN or PA interventions. Six PA publications examined the interventions exclusively for elderly patients. Each of the 11 PN and PA publications contained at least one comment about the impact on older patients. The types of impact varied substantially, but there was scant attention to the quality of life. The type of intervention, the outcome measures and the quality of publications also varied considerably. Generally, age is not an important factor in PN and PA studies. To facilitate adjustment of navigation and activation interventions to the individual patient, more rigorous research into the impact of PN and PA interventions on older patients is necessary.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Innovating with Older Adults, Centre of Expertise in Health Care and Social Work, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: van Ee
authors.affiliation: Health Sciences/Health Psychology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagedoorn
authors.affiliation: Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Leiden/Department of Geriatrics, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J P J
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Slaets
authors.affiliation: Research Group Innovating with Older Adults, Centre of Expertise in Health Care and Social Work, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C H M
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Smits
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms; D062526:Patient Navigation
keywords: cancer; older patients; patient navigation/patient activation interventions; review