Prostate cancer survivorship essentials framework: guidelines for practitioners.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Public Health
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Current prostate cancer survivorship care in Australia requires contemporary and inclusive guidelines.
• Existing survivorship experiences are often described as medically focused, uncoordinated, and anxiety-inducing, with unmet needs.
• There is a need to extend survivorship domains beyond traditional healthcare parameters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop contemporary and inclusive prostate cancer survivorship guidelines tailored for the Australian setting.
• To identify key descriptors of men's current prostate cancer survivorship experience.
• To generate and assess survivorship domains for importance and feasibility.

Main Methods:

• A four-round iterative policy Delphi methodology was employed.
• A 47-member expert panel included diverse clinical, community, and consumer representatives from Australia and New Zealand.
• Online surveys followed by a face-to-face meeting were used to achieve consensus.

Main Results:

• Six key descriptors of survivorship experience were identified: dealing with side effects, challenging, medically focused, uncoordinated, unmet needs, and anxious.
• Twenty-six survivorship elements were categorized into six domains: health promotion and advocacy, shared management, vigilance, personal agency, care coordination, and evidence-based interventions.
• All domains were deemed essential, with high importance ratings for elements, though feasibility consensus was mixed. Seven immediate action priorities were derived.

Conclusions:

• The policy Delphi facilitated the development of inclusive prostate cancer survivorship domains extending beyond traditional healthcare.
• These domains offer guidance for policymakers, clinicians, and consumers to improve prostate cancer survivorship outcomes.
• The findings highlight essential elements for a step change in survivorship care.