Abstract:
Background: The comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) has shown to improve health related outcomes, quality of life and reduction in health service usein older persons with cancer. However, there is limited data of barriers and enablers to the uptake of allied health referrals by older persons with cancer following a CGA.
Objective: To undertake a Scoping Review to identify barriers and enablers to the uptake of allied health referrals for elderly patients with cancer.
Design: A systematic Scoping Review of published literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) extension methodology.
Data Sources: Pubmed, OVID Medline, Embase and CINAHL were searched.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Articles published between 2010 – 2022, excluding grey literature, that included adults with cancer referred to outpatient allied health services and reported on the barriers and/or enablers to uptake of referrals to these services.
Data extraction and synthesis: Data from peer-reviewed literature was extracted by a single reviewer (AW).
Results: Of a total of 36 articles, 10 articles met eligibility criteria. Key barriers identified were socio-economic, a lack of patient understanding or confidence in referred services and social determinants of health. Key enablers included multidisciplinary communication between health care professionals (HCPs) and referred service providers, the location of services, utilisation of patient navigators, availability of patient education, telephone or remote technology follow-ups by HCPs, and patient input into care decisions.
Conclusions: A variety of factors impact on uptake of allied health services. Interventions are required to implement enablers to increase uptake of allied health referrals following CGA.