Selected Quality Characteristics Of Out-Patient Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Centers In Germany: A Nationwide Analysis

Abstract

Quality assurance has become increasingly relevant in the field of outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling. At the same time, no studies are currently available that analyze outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling centers in Germany with respect to standards of service quality. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether these centers meet selected quality criteria of outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling. Based on quality standards of outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling previously developed by us in a Delphi study, we surveyed 106 out of 151 German psychosocial outpatient cancer counseling centers registered in a publicly accessible data base of Germany's cancer information service in Heidelberg with respect to the selected quality characteristics. Data analysis used descriptive statistical techniques. The centers of the sample differ in how many of them fulfill the quality standards selected for analysis here. More than 90% provide the services described by the standards as required. In contrast, in the personnel domain, there appears to be room for improvement with respect to the amount of service hours available for psychologists and the number of counselors with advanced training in psycho-oncology. Also, external supervision and case conferences turn out to be quality characteristics with room for improvement in the domain of quality assurance as do distress screening in the domain of diagnostics and using systematic documentation. Referring to recent standards of quality of outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling allowed us to delineate strength and weaknesses that may serve as starting points for quality improvement in the centers providing psychosocial cancer counseling. However, further research is necessary to arrive at a more comprehensive picture of the degree to which outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling centers in Germany comply with current standards of service quality.