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Patient Support Strategies

Different supportive care strategies can help patients to cope with illness and stress due to health impairment.¹

Patient Education¹

Provide patients with NHL or their care givers with detailed information about the disease, diagnosis, and treatment options to help them make informed decisions. Educate them on the strategies to cope with emotional stress and daily functioning due to illness and health impairment. Prepare the patient about what to expect with the treatment and how to cope with side effects. Tailor information according to the patient needs to reduce anxiety and improve satisfaction. Ensuring appropriate information concerning treatment cost and health insurance coverage can prevent stress due to financial burden.

Emotional/Mental Health¹

Learning about NHL diagnosis can be stressful for a patient which impacts them psychologically. Good communication with the patient and family creates a trusting relationship that positively affects several aspects of cancer care journey.
Assess patients on their individual needs to provide advice on coping with work/education and encourage them to participate in support groups to discuss emotional and functioning issues.
Provide information about health counselors to discuss sexual function and fertility issues.
Additionally, guiding them to online resources (websites, podcasts, support groups, and videos) can help them learn more about coping strategies.

Palliative Care²

Palliative care providers work with multidisciplinary teams such as physicians, nurses, mental health specialists, social workers, chaplains, pharmacists, and dieticians. Palliative care may be appropriate for patients with refractory pain, prominent pain symptoms, or psychological distress.
Provide resources to the patient and care giver about health insurance coverage and eligibility to receive palliative care.

Complementary Methods³

Complementary and integrative methods are practices that are not part of standard medical care but may help people with cancer to better manage cancer-related symptoms and treatment-related side effects. Integrative medicine is the combined use of standard medical treatments and certain complementary methods.
Integrating complementary therapies into conventional treatment plans, can help better address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patients.

The use of complementary treatments may improve wellbeing and quality of life; some examples of are listed below.³

References

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Diagnosis and Management. 5 Patient information needs. National Library of Medicine. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385269/).
American Cancer Society. How and Where Is Palliative Care Provided and How Is It Paid For? Last revised May 10, 2019. (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/palliative-care/who-provides-palliative-care.html).
American Cancer Society. What are Complimentary and Integrative Methods? Last revised August 25, 2021. (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/treatment-types/complementary-and-integrative-medicine/complementary-and-alternative-methods-and-cancer/what-are-complementary-and-integrative-methods.html).

All URLs accessed July 1, 2024

Defining NHL

Pathogenesis

Diagnosis & Staging

Treating & Managing NHL

Guidelines

Understanding AE’s

Patient Support Strategies

Resources