Perceptions About Care and Support Among Cancer Survivors With Severe Mental Health Conditions

Research on the attitudes and support received by cancer survivors with preexisting severe mental health conditions (SMHC) from their families and oncology professionals is lacking.

To explore how individuals with SMHC perceive and experience family and oncology team attitudes and care.

Participants were 25 cancer survivors, 6 men and 18 women, aged 26-86 with preexisting SMHC. The interpretive phenomenological approach and reflexive thematic analysis were used to capture participants' lived experiences.

Two themes emerged: (a) "They don't take us seriously": perceived family attitudes and support; and (b) "It was basically like ice": perceived care from oncology professionals. From these two themes, a core typology was developed, exemplifying the parallel experience and perceptions of care of family members and oncology team: negative attitudes and inadequate support reported by most participants; receiving the essential but unemotional and detached care reported by some participants; and experiencing positive attitudes and adequate support expressed by a few. In some cases, following a cancer diagnosis, family members became more positive. Many participants experienced the oncology professionals' attitudes as affected by stigma and lack of attention to their unique situation.

Oncology professionals should address survivors' needs for equality, dignity, humanity, and privacy in terms of care to improve their psychological well-being. In addition, family members supporting a patient with SMHC should receive sufficient information and tools to promote better care.