Dunne, Simon and Coffey, Laura and Sharp, Linda and Timmons, Aileen Mary and Desmond, Deirdre and Gooberman-Hill, Rachael and O'Sullivan, Eleanor and Keogh, Ivan and Timon, Conrad and Gallagher, Pamela (2018) Barriers to active self‐management following treatment for head and neck cancer: Survivors' perspectives. Psycho-Oncology, 27 (10). pp. 2382-2388. ISSN 1099-1611

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Abstract

Objective: Active self‐management practices may help head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors to deal with challenges to their physical, functional, social, and psychological well‐being presented by HNC and its treatment. This study investigates the factors perceived by HNC survivors to act as barriers to their active self‐management following primary treatment. Methods: In this qualitative study, 27 HNC survivors identified through 4 designated cancer centres in Ireland participated in face‐to‐face semistructured interviews. Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four themes (and associated subthemes) describing barriers to survivors' active self‐management were identified: emotional barriers (eg, fear of recurrence), symptom‐related barriers (eg, loss of taste), structural barriers (eg, access to appropriate health services), and self‐evaluative barriers (eg, interpersonal self‐evaluative concerns). Conclusions: This is the first study to describe HNC survivors' views about barriers to their active self‐management after treatment. The findings have important implications for self‐management research and intervention development concerning HNC survivorship.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This publication is independent research partly funded by the Irish Cancer Society and the Health Research Board in Ireland under Grant No.: SRP13GAL, MRCG/2013/11. AT is supported by a grant from the Health Research Board (ICE/2012/9).
Keywords:	cancer; cancer survivorship; head and neck cancer; oncology; psycho‐oncology; qualitative; self‐management;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	12134
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4835
Depositing User:	Laura Coffey
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2020 16:38
Journal or Publication Title:	Psycho-Oncology
Publisher:	Wiley
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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