Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Complex Cancer Survivors.
Marlyn A Allicock, Tiffany Suragh, Rikki Ward and 3 others
PMID 38009888WHAT IT FOUND
Complex cancer survivors relied on faith, family and virtual connections to cope.
Many had anxiety or depression but avoided labels and professional help. Ask about spiritual and social supports and whether they understand ongoing survivorship risk.
Key findings
01Most participants were two or more years after active cancer treatment and attributed coping to resilience learned from cancer.
02Faith helped participants deal with fear and anxiety, and virtual social connections were described as essential for mental health.
03Pandemic isolation and concerns created or worsened anxiety and depression, and many participants avoided mental-health labels.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study reports experiences from 97 patients in one safety-net system serving low-income, under- or uninsured, racial/ethnic minority survivors, so it may not apply to other cancer survivor populations. It is descriptive and cross-sectional; it shows what participants said during the pandemic, not whether any care approach works. Interview findings come from 32 participants and survey findings from 85, so the two parts describe overlapping but not identical groups. No provider perspectives were collected, so the authors could not confirm what clinicians told survivors about COVID-19 risk. Many participants avoided mental-health labels or downplayed severity, and those who acknowledged issues rarely sought professional help.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the faith and social support findings as evidence that spiritual assessment or social support improves outcomes. This paper describes what survivors said during the pandemic; it did not test an intervention or compare groups.