The National Centre for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) under Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is set to extend psycho-social support for cancer patients and their families.
An official source with HMC told local Arabic daily Arrayah that the centre has adopted the psychological oncology model as part of a range of support services needed for cancer patients.
“Since the cancer diagnosis may be a challenge for patients and their families, the psycho-social oncology model for comprehensive care has been adopted by the psychotherapy unit. This model provides an open platform to support patients and their families to promote healthy coping or coping strategies and psychological resilience,” the source said.
The new model ensures that each patient receives high-quality individual care to help him overcome the many challenges that cancer brings while addressing other emotional, personal and family problems along with matters.
“For patients and their families, cancer is a journey full of challenges that requires the assistance and contributions of various professionals, including mental health professionals. Patients and their families fall between three major concerns. The first is the nature of the disease, treatment methods and side effects of medications,” he said, adding that cancer is not like other chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, which people have real knowledge about. “It’s considered a mysterious health condition of unknown causes,” he said.
The second concern is that the disease itself represents a great challenge for the patients and causes great psychological and social problems mainly related to thoughts, assumptions, confused feelings and anxiety caused by the psychological imbalance resulting from the disease.
The third concern is related to the culture of stigma, which increases the pain of the patient and his family and puts pressure on their logical thinking and emotions. It also causes social isolation and avoidance of mixing with others, the source added.