Examining the "usual" in usual care: a critical review and recommendations for usual care conditions in psycho-oncology

Supportive Care in Cancer : Official Journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
Joanna J Arch, Annette L Stanton

Abstract

Within psycho-oncology clinical trials, usual care (UC) represents a common and important control condition. Yet recent shifts in oncology, coupled with insufficient description of such conditions, threaten to render UC increasingly difficult to define and interpret. This paper offers evidence of these shifts and recommendations for addressing them. The broader literature on usual care as a control condition in psychosocial/behavioral intervention trials was assessed, and usual care-controlled trials in psycho-oncology were selectively reviewed, toward to goal of conceptual synthesis. We offer evidence that (1) UC control conditions are often insufficiently defined and assessed; and (2) the context of supportive care in oncology has shifted in a manner that contributes to this problem, with implications for interpreting and comparing findings across clinical trials. Three converging findings support these conclusions. First, the scientific literature increasingly documents the diversity in how "usual care" conditions are defined across psychosocial and behavioral trials, with important considerations for trial interpretation. Second, evidence suggests that the availability of psychosocial oncology care has increased over the pa...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 6, 2020·Journal of Genetic Counseling·Barbara B BieseckerGalen Joseph
Aug 13, 2021·Quality of Life Research : an International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care and Rehabilitation·Zejun LiangQuan Wei

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