Aim: We aimed to investigate the perspectives and challenges\namong oncology nurses in terms of 1) the assessment and care\nof patients� psychological needs and 2) the management of their\nown stress.\nMethod: An online questionnaire survey was conducted in Japan\namong 782 nurses enrolled for health professional surveys in\nNovember 2014. The questionnaire consisted of ten questions\non the psychological care of cancer patients of all five categories\n(anxiety, anger, crisis state, how to tell children about cancer in a\nparent, and grief care) and two questions on nurses� own stress\nmanagement, which were assessed on a Likert scale. In addition,\nspace was given to free-text responses for difficulties in stress\nmanagement at work.\nResults: The valid response rate was 69.1% (540 of 782). More\nthan half of the nurses surveyed reported that knowledge of\nthe assessment of psychological needs of cancer patients was\ninadequate. In addition, more than half of the nurses were aware\nthat correspondence was inadequate even when there was\nmultidisciplinary cooperation in psychological care. Regarding the\nexperience of psychological support in the presence or absence\nof a liaison team, significant differences were observed (p < 0.01)\nin the following aspects of patient support: 1) psychological crisis\nafter the diagnosis of cancer recurrence or metastasis, including\nmultidisciplinary cooperation; 2) anxiety; and 3) multidisciplinary\ncollaboration in the management of anger.\nConclusion: Cooperation between multidisciplinary teams led\nto effective support for patients and their families when facing\nanxiety, anger, or psychological crisis. Thus, appropriate resource\nallocation and use could enhance psychological care for cancer\npatients as well as their families. Nurses perceived their knowledge\nand coping skills as insufficient for their own stress management.\nCreating a support system for nurses is necessary to encourage\nthem to address stress at an early stage.
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