[Psycho-oncology and supportive care: psychiatrist's practice.]

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Inadequate access to psychological support highlights the need for enhanced supportive care services.
• Coordinated efforts between medical and psychological teams are crucial for managing patients with comorbidities.
• Supportive care increasingly emphasizes systematic symptom assessment and its impact on quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of patient narratives and caregiver validation in supportive care.
• To investigate how a dimensional approach to symptom management can improve patient outcomes.
• To understand the psychotherapeutic effects of confronting patient-disease narratives with validated caregiver insights.

Main Methods:

• Systematic assessment of symptoms and their impact on patient quality of life.
• Utilizing a dimensional rather than categorical approach to symptom measurement.
• Facilitating patient self-evaluation and narrative construction of their disease experience.
• Interdisciplinary communication and comparison of patient and caregiver narratives.

Main Results:

• Symptoms are viewed as the disease itself, guiding management through a dimensional lens.
• Patient active participation via self-evaluation shapes their disease narrative.
• Caregiver elaboration of a "validated version" of the disease narrative emerges from interdisciplinary exchange.
• Confrontation between patient and caregiver narratives incentivizes patients to re-evaluate their disease attitude and accept changes.

Conclusions:

• Coordinated supportive care, integrating patient narratives and caregiver insights, fosters a psychotherapeutic effect.
• A dimensional approach and patient self-evaluation enhance disease management and engagement.
• The process of validating and confronting narratives can lead to significant shifts in patient perception and treatment acceptance.