Barriers and Facilitators to Supportive Care Implementation in Advanced Disease Prostate Cancer Survivors: A...

Individualized supportive care is recommended to manage the debilitating effects of advanced prostate cancer and its treatments. Yet, the implementation of supportive care in practice remains inconsistent.

The aim of this study was to synthesize the barriers and facilitators to implementing supportive care interventions after identifying supportive care interventions for advanced prostate cancer survivors.

PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL Complete, ProQuest, and PsycINFO were searched for relevant studies published between 2011 and 2020. Studies were included if they reported on a supportive care intervention and included a description of implementation barriers and/or facilitators. The Theoretical Domains Framework was used to characterize implementation barriers and facilitators.

Of the 620 articles identified, 13 met all prespecified inclusion criteria. Primary barriers were related to the domains of environmental context and resources (eg, limited resources), knowledge (eg, insufficient knowledge on efficacy of supportive care), and beliefs about capabilities (eg, lack of confidence in materials). Facilitators fell under environmental context and resources (partnerships with local services), reinforcement (eg, partners inclusion), and skills (eg, delivery by professionals).

This scoping review highlights barriers and facilitators that affect supportive care implementation. Future research that focuses on overcoming barriers and maximizing facilitators is needed to improve, modify, or supplement existing supportive care implementation practices.

As the number of advanced prostate cancer survivors continues to increase, supportive care must become the standard of care. Future interventions must incorporate increased knowledge and funding, alternative delivery models, and consistent use of specialty nurses.