The isPO onco-guide: a psycho-oncological one-to-one peer support
Anxiety, anxiety, cancer, depression, Depression
CANCER
Within isPO, newly diagnosed cancer patients receive psycho-oncological care for up to twelve months in a stepped-care approach. At the beginning of the care trajectory, every patient is assigned to a specific care level in accordance with the individual depression and anxiety level captured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (Zigmond and Snaith The isPO care levels and service providers.Adapted from Salm et al. The new form of care isPO was implemented in January 2019 in four care networks in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Every isPO care network comprises a cancer centre hospital and adjoint oncological outpatient practices. The hospitals differed in their location (metropolis, big city, middle city), their size (hospital of maximum care or standard care), and their teaching status (e.g. university hospital, academic teaching hospital). All of the hospitals offer acute care. Care level 1 is offered to every enrolled patient independent of the patient’s depression and anxiety level, which makes it a low-threshold service. It contains the provision of psychosocial support information by an isPO OG. isPO OGs are cancer survivors whose cancer treatment goes back at least one year. They are trained and certified for their voluntary work (Fig. Overview of the isPO onco-guide certification requirements and voluntary work tasks