Care Providers' Experiences of Psychological Support for People with Cancer: A Content Analysis Study

Background and Aim: Psychological support is one of the main components of care for cancer patients.  For many years, this issue has been emphasized in the literature and practice of care providers. This study aimed at exploring the experiences and perception of care-providers about psychological support in for cancer patients. Materials and Methods: The research was conventional qualitative content analysis approach in cancer care centers and conducted in 2021.  For attaining that aim, 19 participants were purposefully selected for an interviewed to explore the experiences of them about psychological support. After transcribing the recorded data, analysis was carried out based on Graneheim and Lundman’s method of content analysis. Results: From the data analysis, 4 main categories: "highlighting positive mental connection with oneself and others", "giving positive awareness", "positive change in the patient's point of view" and "enhancement of worthiness perception" were found. These categories reflect the care providers' consideration and effort in “strengthening the positive mentality” in the patient and shows the formation of the nature of psychological support in caring for cancer patients.  Conclusion: In the current study, strengthening the positive mentality is the basis of psychological support in people with cancer, which can be effective as a strategic plan in the development of training programs for the professional care team. In order to develop practical care programs, the concept of strengthening positive mentality can be a framework for realization as well as an indicator for evaluating psychological support, a step towards providing quality care with the satisfaction and inner peace of patients. In the field of research, the findings of the present study can be used to design a tool to measure the state of psychological support. Also, these findings can be combined with care quality measurement tools and examined in the responsiveness of care to provide psychological support to the patient as an important aspect of care.