Living with cancer-related fatigue: developing an effective management programme

A fatigue management programme was developed for hospice day care patients. Following feedback, and using the survivorship agenda, the authors found that cancer-related fatigue was a major difficulty for many patients. Fatigue, which affects 'normal' functioning and quality of life, is often related to cancer treatments which continue even after the patient has completed active treatment. A palliative care occupational therapist and physiotherapist (the authors) created a 1-year charity-funded pilot project to develop, run and evaluate a programme for cancer patients at any stage of their illness. Patients were referred when fatigue was recognized by their clinical nurse specialists as still significantly affecting their lifestyle, even if other possible causative factors had been medically managed. Twenty-eight patients completed the 4-week courses and reported positive reductions in fatigue levels, and better functioning and ability to cope.