Oral Presentation 2025 Joint Meeting of the COSA ASM and IPOS Congress

Treating the masses: Efficient models of care to deliver effective interventions that target fear of cancer recurrence  (#223)

Louise Sharpe 1
  1. The University of Sydney, The University Of Sydney, NSW, Australia

Twenty million people around the world every year are diagnosed with cancer. It is estimated that by 2040 this number will grow to 29.9 million people. And yet, the news is not all bad, 70% of those who are diagnosed with cancer now will survive at least five years. But this creates an ever growing number people who receive treatment, and then live either beyond or with cancer. Currently, in the US it is estimated that there are 18 million cancer survivors and that by 2040 there will be 26 million. The growing number of cancer survivors also creates substantial unmet psychosocial need and the most common unmet psychological need of cancer survivors remains treatment for the fear of cancer recurring or progressing (FCR). We know that one in five survivors has severe FCR and so how can we meet the demand for psychological intervention with the current psycho-oncology workforce. This plenary will review the evidence for psychological treatments offered in different modalities and explore models of care that would allow the sector to provide effective management for people presenting with different levels of FCR. This presentation would cover approaches that can be used by oncologists, nurses and psycho-oncologists at different levels of care to optimise service provision in this area of unmet need for cancer survivors.