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Financial navigation: Staff perspectives on patients' financial burden of cancer care
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Financial navigation: Staff perspectives on patients' financial burden of cancer care

Katherine A Yeager, Whitney E Zahnd, Jan M Eberth, Robin C Vanderpool, Catherine Rohweder, Randall Teal, Maihan Vu, Lindsay Stradtman, Elizabeth L Frost, Erika Trapl, …
Journal of cancer survivorship, Vol.17(5), pp.1461-1470
10/2023
DOI: 10.1007/s11764-022-01175-2
PMCID: PMC9314461
PMID: 35080699
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/9314461View
Open Access

Abstract

To describe perceptions of financial navigation staff concerning patients' cancer-related financial burden. 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. 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.
Finances Treatment costs Cancer Communication

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