Individual Abstract within a Delegate Designed Symposium 2025 Joint Meeting of the COSA ASM and IPOS Congress

Identifying the training and support needs of healthcare professionals involved in care coordination for people with primary brain tumour and their family caregivers: a qualitative exploration (126522)

Megan Jeon 1 , Joanne Shaw 1 , Hannah Banks 1 , Dianne M Legge 2 3 , Sharon He 1 , Thomas Carlick 1 , Eng-Siew Koh 4 , Georgia Halkett 3 , Brian Kelly 5 , Mark B Pinkham 6 7 , Tamara Ownsworth 8 , Raymond Chan 9 , Haryana M Dhillon 1
  1. Psycho-oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG), School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Oliva Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia
  3. Curtin School of Nursing/Curtin Medical Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
  4. Liverpool Cancer Centre, Liverpool Hospital, South Western Sydney Local Health District , Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle (UON), Callaghan, NSW, Australia
  6. Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
  7. University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia
  8. The Hopkins Centre, School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, QLD, Australia
  9. Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford, SA, Australia

Objectives/purpose

Brain tumour care coordination (BTCC) enables continuous, timely care tailored to the complex and changing needs of people with primary brain tumours (PwPBT) and their families. Implementation of BTCC is facilitated by healthcare professionals (HCPs) dedicated to BTCC. We aimed to determine core skills and education, training, support and resource needs of these HCPs, given their central role in current approaches to BTCC.

Sample and setting

Twelve HCPs experienced in BTCC from Australia and New Zealand participated. Participants were mostly female (92%), had a median of 13.5 years of experience in neuro-oncology across medical (25%), nursing (58%), and allied health (25%) disciplines.

Procedures

Semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and November 2023 via videoconferencing (median duration 58 minutes). Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Our sample provided information power given depth of data based on HCPs’ extensive BTCC experience. Data were analysed thematically using interpretive description.

Results

We identified three themes. Theme 1 – Supportive infrastructure: HCPs described working in silos and risk of burnout in neuro-oncology; the lack of institutional support left them feeling isolated. HCPs raised need for formal, “protected” peer support opportunities, including cross-institutional connections. Theme 2 – Skilled workforce: HCPs identified core competencies for overseeing BTCC; and their desired training in advanced neuro-oncology knowledge and psychosocial and communication skills. Theme 3 – Resources: HCPs called for increased staffing, allowing HCPs to work in one tumour stream, and brain tumour-specific clinical resources (e.g., referral & care pathways) to manage challenging and unique symptoms in PwPBT.

Conclusion and clinical implications

Findings provide important insight to inform development of programs and resources for supporting and upskilling HCPs involved in BTCC. These programs will help retain and boost this specialist workforce, which will, in turn, improve access to coordinated, quality care for PwPBT and their families.