Moor, Janet S. de

Adults with cancer are at risk of restricted functioning in work, usual activities, life roles, and quality of life both during and after cancer treatment. Herein, the authors discuss unique opportunities to examine how cancer rehabilitation, delivered as part of cancer and survivorship care, might help to achieve the quadruple aim of better patient health, better patient experience, and lower cost for patients who receive services, as well as improving the work life of clinicians and staff.

Participation refers to a state of health in which a person is able to fully engage in roles and life situations. Adults living with and beyond cancer often report persistent participation restrictions that affect their productivity and quality of life. The American Occupational Therapy Foundation convened a group of scientists from seven different disciplines in a Planning Grant Collective (PGC) to stimulate research to identify scalable ways to preserve and optimize participation among cancer survivors. Participants identified challenges, prioritized solutions, and generated novel research questions that move beyond symptom and impairment mitigation as outcomes to identify interventions that improve participation in roles and life situations. This article summarizes the PGC discussion and recommendations regarding three challenges: (a) the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of participation, (b) a need to integrate the concept of participation within the culture of oncology, and (c) identification of priority areas in which new lines of research regarding participation would be most impactful.