Psychosocial care within a multidisciplinary breast cancer team

The purpose of this article is to identify the range of psychosocial care components used by a multidisciplinary breast cancer team.

A questionnaire was developed to assess the range of psychosocial care components used by the team, their confidence using them and their training needs in relation to them. A total of 15 people completed the questionnaire from seven different professions.

The breast cancer team carried out a wide range of psychosocial care components despite little formal training to support their work. They valued the importance of psychosocial interventions and recognised their learning needs in relation to them.

The small sample size limited ability to detect correlations and significant trends within the data. Future research could sample other cancer teams and use the questionnaire before and after training to detect changes in the use of psychosocial care components.

The psychosocial needs of cancer patients are best met when all members of the team are aware of and respond to those needs. This study suggests that team members' confidence in using psychosocial care components should be regularly assessed and training provided. It is proposed that a questionnaire is a valuable way of gathering information and evaluating training.

This paper would be of value to a manager or clinician aiming to develop a multidisciplinary approach to the psychosocial care of cancer patients.