Improvement of quality of life and psychological distress after inpatient cancer rehabilitation

Survival rates of cancer patients have steadily improved over the last 20 years, thanks to better diagnostics and advances in treatment. This leads to new challenges in cancer treatment since cancer has to be understood as a chronic disease in many cases: up to 70% of the patients live for at least 5 years after diagnosis [ 1 , 2 ]; however, survival rates alone do not reflect the significant impairments patients suffer due to the disease and its treatment [ 3 ]. A substantial number of cancer survivors have to deal with physical and psychological burdens not only during active treatment, but also after hospital discharge when the long-term consequences of the disease and its treatment pose another challenge for their daily lives [ 4 ]. Common side effects of cancer treatment include emotional distress, pain and fatigue [ 4 , 5 ] but cancer may also impact the patients’ occupational status [ 6 , 7 ], or social functioning. Consequently, multidisciplinary cancer rehabilitation aiming at establishing the best possible physical, psychological and social conditions for cancer patients is increasingly recommended in national and international cancer treatment guidelines [ 8 , 9 ]. Cancer rehabilitation in Austria is mainly offered at inpatient facilities with approximately 600 available beds [ 10 ]. Since the yearly incidence of about 39,000 new cancer cases is assumed to rise by 10% within the next 15 years [ 11 ] and cancer survival rates are steadily increasing, the need for cancer rehabilitation has most likely not yet reached its peak; therefore, rehabilitation programs need to be effective regarding treatment efficacy and costs. The EUROCHIP-3 Working Group on Cancer Rehabilitation has developed specific indicators to evaluate rehabilitation success, including quality of life (QOL), return to work, and satisfaction of specific rehabilitation needs (e. g. physical, psycho-oncological, dietary and speech and language therapy) [ 12 ]. Hence, to meet the requirements of successful cancer rehabilitation, the programs should consist of multidisciplinary efforts including medical, psychological and physiotherapeutic treatment as well as occupational therapy, dietetics, and social work [ 13 ].