Using facilitated group sessions to enhance the mental well-being of professionals who support young people with cancer
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Using facilitated group sessions to enhance the mental well-being of professionals who support young people with cancer

Elizabeth Purnell Teenage Cancer Trust lead nurse, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, England
Giulia Cavazza Cognitive behavioural therapist, Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, England
Robyn Hedge Teenage and young adult clinical nurse specialist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To recognise the need to provide psychological support for staff who care for young people with cancer

  • To learn about an intervention that was introduced to support staff working at a teenage and young adult cancer service

  • To understand the potential benefits of offering facilitated group sessions for healthcare staff

Healthcare professionals working in cancer care often experience high levels of work-related stress, vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue. Providing care and support to young people diagnosed with cancer can be highly demanding. Professionals who work with teenagers and young adults in cancer services likely require psychological support to help them manage the emotional burden of their work. At the Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) Cancer Service in Sheffield, England, team members have benefited from facilitated psychological support group sessions using a mix of methods including cognitive behavioural therapy, compassion-focused therapy and mindfulness-based therapy. This article provides an overview of this intervention and explains how it has helped the team.

Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2024.e1873

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@Rubypenn83

Correspondence

elizabeth.purnell@nhs.net

Conflict of interest

None declared

Purnell E, Cavazza G, Hedge R (2024) Using facilitated group sessions to enhance the mental well-being of professionals who support young people with cancer. Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2024.e1873

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Caroline Wiltshire, Hannah Richardson-Wood, Beth Harrison, Tracy Connolly, Jemma Midgley, Tricia Wyer and Rebecca Mulholland, who have all been part of this project

Published online: 18 November 2024

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