The Skills of Facilitator Nurses in Psycho-Social Group Intervention for Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to provide cancer patients with a psychosocial group intervention consisting of 3 parts, i.e., education on how to cope with stress and solve problems, group discussions, and progressive muscle relaxation, and to investigate the intervention techniques of Japanese facilitators. METHODS Group interventions for breast cancer patients performed by 3 facilitators were analyzed qualitatively and inductively using a phenomenological approach. RESULTS The skills of facilitators included 10 intervention techniques and 1 problem in interventions. Intervention techniques, which promote group dynamics and thereby help participants acquire improvements in their coping abilities and quality of life (QOL), were somewhat different between new and experienced facilitators, with the content showing immaturity and maturity in the new and experienced facilitators, respectively. Both experienced and new facilitators faced the risk of experiencing problems in interventions, which countered the purpose of the intervention of improving the participants' coping abilities or QOL. CONCLUSION While intervention skills are necessary for facilitators to execute group interventions, it must be borne in mind, that even well-experienced facilitators may not always be able to accomplish skillful intervention.