Setting – the background of the PIKKO study
cancer
CANCER
PIKKO is a care concept funded by the Innovation Fund of the Federal Joint Committee in Germany (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss, funding number 01NVF17011) which supplements oncological care with an additional counseling and information pathway [But it was not only the surveys that were affected by the pandemic, but also the intervention itself. The use of PN and offers of the SCS was often linked to a visit to an on-site facility (clinic, practice, course rooms) and thus to movement in the public space. This can be a barrier for many cancer patients because they can no longer participate in the study due to external circumstances - such as lockdown strategies - or they do not want to participate due to their own fears. Fortunately, the PN could also be reached by telephone from the very beginning, so this was already a familiar alternative method of contact for the PIKKO patients. Beginning 30 Mar 2020, the SCS offered its psychological and psycho-social counseling during extended telephone hours and produced course videos to offer the content of the courses to patients online. Other SCS courses took place outdoors (Nordic Walking, QiGong). “My PIKKO” operated independent of location anyway. This meant that the entire intervention was still available.This supplementary survey, which was not included in the original study design of PIKKO, examines the impact of the pandemic on patients and the use of the intervention modules. Only the IG data collection took place under lockdown conditions and only the IG used the intervention modules. Therefore, all participants in this supplementary survey were from the IG. Participants were already informed about data privacy as part of the PIKKO study (The ethics committee of medical association of the Saarland approved the study protocol on 2 Nov 2017; approval number 114/17. The informed consent by study participants is obtained in a written way.) and the supplementary survey participation was voluntary.