The care and service partnership for cancer patients and their families to iimprove patients and professionals’ experience

Context: The introduction of Accompanying Patients (APs) as full members of the clinical team is a social innovation. This program is the first to offer APs to complement the oncology service offering emotional, informational, educational and navigation support.

Objective: To assess the effect of APs on patients and health professionals

Study Design and Analysis: A multiple longitudinal case study using mixed methods.

Setting: University of Montréal Health Centre (Montreal, Canada); University of Laval Health Centre (Québec, Canada); Integrated University health and social services Centre of the East of Montréal (Montreal, Canada);.

Population studied: People with cancer undergoing treatment and health professionals working in the cancer wards

Intervention/Instrument & Outcome Measures: People with cancer had at least one contact with an AP during their treatment. They were asked to complete questionnaires (the Communication and Attitudinal Self-efficacy scale; the The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). Additional interviews were conducted with a sample of these patients. in addition, health professionals were interviewed about their perception of the contribution or limitations of the AP’s interventions.

Results;The 3 institutions provided support to 989 patients; 540 of whom agreed to participate in the research project. These accompaniments were mainly carried out in the breast cancer trajectory (96%). Interviews with patients show that the intervention reduces anxiety, helps them prepare for medical appointments, be more proactive in making decisions and have a better experience of care and quality of life. It allows APs to make sense of their care journey and give back to the next. The results of the Communication and Attitudinal Self-efficacy scale for cancer show that 100% of the accompanied patients understand and participate in their care and 90% maintain a positive attitude. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) showed that supported patients had less psychological distress than cancer patients in general (10.7% versus 33.5%). For professionals, they have access to patients’ personal information that can be helpful in treating their patients, feedback on their practices and on organizational issues.