Health care research in psycho-oncology

Background. Psychosocial care of cancer patients is recognized as an essential part of health care in primary care, rehabilitation and outpatient care. Despite some progress in psychosocial care of cancer patients in Germany during the last decade, there are still gaps especially in outpatient care and a need to improve care structures in all areas of health care. Hence, the tasks of health care research in psycho-oncology are multifaceted. This article gives an overview of the most important areas of psycho-oncological health care research based on the national guidelines for psychosocial assessment, counselling and treatment of cancer patients. Methods and Results. The main topics of health care research in psycho-oncology are (1) screening and assessment of psychosocial distress and comorbidities, (2) psychosocial interventions, (3) utilization of psychosocial care and its barriers and (4) quality assurance. The state of the art in the respective areas is summarized based on a selective literature research and future research tasks are outlined. Conclusions. Health care research in psycho-oncology can contribute to detect gaps in psychosocial care and to find solutions for improvement in patient care.