What Hinders Chinese Professionals From Providing Psychosocial Oncology Care? A Qualitative Study

Background: In China, psychosocial oncology care is a growing trend in oncology treatment strategies that integrates with medical practices. Despite more psychosocial oncology professionals being trained, many cancer patients and survivors at various stages of cancer treatment reported continued unmet psychosocial care needs. Professionals take a crucial role in offering this care, but little is known about challenges in a clinical setting.

Objective: This study aims to explore the challenges of Chinese professionals face in offering psychosocial oncology care.

Methods: A qualitative design was employed to collect interview data from 20 oncology professionals with years of experience in psychosocial oncology practices. A thematic analysis was conducted to interpret interview data and generate themes.

Results: The analysis revealed three prominent themes and subthemes: Overwhelming work burden and limited training, struggles among patients and their families in accepting psychosocial care, and structural limitations in resources, public awareness, and geographical inequalities.

Conclusions: The findings revealed the experiences of Chinese oncology professionals on the challenges in offering psychosocial oncology care, elucidating the dilemma of professionals’ efforts in holistic psychosocial oncology care, but with limited skill, finance, and resource support. Additionally, low public awareness of psychosocial oncology care also hinders people from accessing these services. A tailored psychosocial oncology framework for research and practice within mainland China needs to be developed with interdisciplinary collaboration to balance resources, policy, and social education to address professionals’ challenges.