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‘Wat de boer niet kent, dat eet hij niet’; het samenbrengen van formele en informele zorg voor mensen met hoofd-halskanker.

Project summary

Head and neck cancer has a major impact on vital functions and thus on people’s psychosocial lives. After treatment, patients and often their loved ones have to learn to cope with often major limitations in their daily lives. Given the relatively rare nature of the disease, they rely heavily on themselves. Sharing experiences or peer support can therefore be a powerful intervention. From clinical practice, patients and their loved ones appear to greatly appreciate experiences and support once they have received it. The national Head Neck Patient Association (PVHH) plays a major role in providing informal care through peers to patients with head and neck cancer. For those patients in whom the larynx has been surgically removed, about 80% have some form of peers’ contact. Of the remaining group of head and neck cancer patients, few patients have peers contact. In addition to the fact that the patient group is very heterogeneous and therefore not easy to reach, these patients still lack good perception, cooperation and referral from formal care.

More detailed information

Principal Investigator:

dr. Marinella Offerman

Role Erasmus MC:

Coördinator

Department:

KNO

Project website:

Funding Agency:

KWF