LAUSR

Objectives: Study objectives were to measure the impact of counselling for people affected by cancer outside a national or private healthcare setting, such as a hospital or clinic, following treatment, and shed light on the nuances of this by gender, age and cancer status. Methods: CORE-10 was used to measure psychological distress amongst a practice-based sample affected by cancer including a comparator group of those who had not yet received counselling. Setting: The study was conducted in counselling offices outside a clinical or healthcare setting, both in terms of physical infrastructure, and in terms of funding mechanisms. Participants: 158 participants were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: completion of a full set of CORE-10; having completed six sessions of counselling at the time of analysis. Results: Results show psychological distress improves for all receiving counselling outside a national or private healthcare setting according to the CORE-10 scores. Those ‘affected by cancer’ are initially more distressed and benefit more from counselling than ‘cancer patients’. In comparison with females, male comparator group scores increase (gets worse) between ‘assessment’ and ‘first’ counselling session, before they have received any counselling.Conclusions: The paper concludes that counselling ‘outside’ a healthcare setting appears to be beneficial to anyone diagnosed or affected by cancer. Benefits vary by demographic group and exploring the meaning behind variations requires further, qualitative, investigation.