Common Survivorship Issues Directory (CSID) project
Project description
Cancer survivors can experience a range of physical, psychological, emotional, social, spiritual and economic effects from their cancer and its treatment, both short and long term.
The CSID project is an online resource (https://www.petermac.org/survdirect), developed by the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (ACSC), a department of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, for both cancer survivors and their carers, and for health professionals, to provide accessible, easy-to-read and evidence-based information on the common issues experienced by people after treatment for cancer, also known as the survivorship phase.
Topics are developed in collaboration with survivors, carers, health professionals and relevant professional bodies. The CSID was launched February 2019, with 9 common survivorship issues. A further 5 common survivorship issues were added since then.
For the period February 2019 (launch) to April 2021, there has been 13,546 page views and 9,949 unique page views. The average amount of time spent is 1.46 minutes per page, which suggests people are engaging with the content meaningfully, especially given that a lot of the content links to other resources.
Outcomes
The CSID promotes health literacy and patient self-management, by providing cancer survivors and their carers with a central repository of user friendly and evidenced based information on how to manage common survivorship issues.
It is widely endorsed that people should be supported to self-manage, to the level they feel comfortable. Supporting and promoting self- management has many benefits for cancer survivors including:
Improved quality of life
Improved survival
Reduced impact of side effects
Increased ability to return to work
Improved self-efficacy
Impact on the healthcare professional
Information within the CSID can support oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals preparing cancer survivors for end of treatment and beyond. It is also helpful for general practitioners and practice nurses supporting cancer survivors who have finished primary cancer treatment and have returned to primary and community health services for their ongoing health care.
Impact on the healthcare institution
The CSID supports optimal cancer survivorship care. Health services can deliver optimal cancer survivorship care by supporting cancer survivors and their carers to access information that promotes self-management, such as that provided through the CSID.
Proposer
Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
305 Grattan St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Project contact person:
Helana Kelly, Manager Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre
helana.kelly@petermac.org
Other project team members:
Prof. Michael Jefford (Consultant medical oncologist, Director Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre)
Fiona Gallagher (Project manager)
Nicole Kinnane (Nurse practitioner and project manager)
Nina Brown (Project officer)
