TY - JOUR
T1 - Financial navigation
T2 - Staff perspectives on patients’ financial burden of cancer care
AU - Yeager, Katherine A.
AU - Zahnd, Whitney E.
AU - Eberth, Jan M.
AU - Vanderpool, Robin C.
AU - Rohweder, Catherine
AU - Teal, Randall
AU - Vu, Maihan
AU - Stradtman, Lindsay
AU - Frost, Elizabeth L.
AU - Trapl, Erika
AU - Gonzalez, Sarah Koopman
AU - Vu, Thuy
AU - Ko, Linda K.
AU - Cole, Allison
AU - Farris, Paige E.
AU - Shannon, Jackilen
AU - Askelson, Natoshia
AU - Seegmiller, Laura
AU - White, Arica
AU - Edward, Jean
AU - Davis, Melinda
AU - Petermann, Victoria
AU - Wheeler, Stephanie B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Purpose: To describe perceptions of financial navigation staff concerning patients’ cancer-related financial burden. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used a semi-structured interview guide to examine perceptions of financial navigation staff concerning patients’ cancer-related financial burden. Staff who provided financial navigation support services to cancer patients were interviewed from different types of cancer programs across seven states representing rural, micropolitan, and urban settings. Interviews lasted approximately one hour, were audio recorded, and transcribed. Transcripts were double coded for thematic analysis. Results: Thirty-five staff from 29 cancer centers were interviewed. The first theme involved communication issues related to patient and financial navigation staff expectations, timing and the sensitive nature of financial discussions. The second theme involved the multi-faceted impact of financial burden on patients, including stress, difficulty adhering to treatments, and challenges meeting basic, non-medical needs. Conclusions and Implications for Cancer Survivors: Cancer-related financial burden has a profound impact on cancer survivors’ health and non-health outcomes. Discussions regarding cancer-related costs between cancer survivors and healthcare team members could help to normalize conversations and mitigate the multi-faceted determinants and effects of cancer-related financial burden. As treatment may span months and years and unexpected costs arise, having this discussion regularly and systematically is needed.
AB - Purpose: To describe perceptions of financial navigation staff concerning patients’ cancer-related financial burden. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used a semi-structured interview guide to examine perceptions of financial navigation staff concerning patients’ cancer-related financial burden. Staff who provided financial navigation support services to cancer patients were interviewed from different types of cancer programs across seven states representing rural, micropolitan, and urban settings. Interviews lasted approximately one hour, were audio recorded, and transcribed. Transcripts were double coded for thematic analysis. Results: Thirty-five staff from 29 cancer centers were interviewed. The first theme involved communication issues related to patient and financial navigation staff expectations, timing and the sensitive nature of financial discussions. The second theme involved the multi-faceted impact of financial burden on patients, including stress, difficulty adhering to treatments, and challenges meeting basic, non-medical needs. Conclusions and Implications for Cancer Survivors: Cancer-related financial burden has a profound impact on cancer survivors’ health and non-health outcomes. Discussions regarding cancer-related costs between cancer survivors and healthcare team members could help to normalize conversations and mitigate the multi-faceted determinants and effects of cancer-related financial burden. As treatment may span months and years and unexpected costs arise, having this discussion regularly and systematically is needed.
KW - Cancer
KW - Communication
KW - Finances
KW - Treatment costs
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123620282&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11764-022-01175-2
DO - 10.1007/s11764-022-01175-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 35080699
AN - SCOPUS:85123620282
SN - 1932-2259
VL - 17
SP - 1461
EP - 1470
JO - Journal of Cancer Survivorship
JF - Journal of Cancer Survivorship
IS - 5
ER -