2. Introduction – Psycho-oncology

This guideline provides recommendations for psycho-oncological diagnosis, counseling and the treatment of adult cancer patients (≥18 years) during the entire course of a cancer illness as well as throughout all sectors of medical care. It provides the basis for implementing of psycho-oncological care services in all sectors. In particular:

• The guideline should demonstrate the need for comprehensive psycho-oncological baseline documentation.
• The guideline should be aligned with the goals of the National Cancer Plan [1] for psycho-oncological care.
• The guideline should encourage regional cross-sector networking.
• The quality of psycho-oncological services should assessed in order to evaluate the work of service providers.

The psycho-oncological concerns of cancer patients under 18 years of age (children and adolescents) are addressed in a separate S3 Guideline for Pediatric Oncology (https://www.awmf.org/leitlinien/detail/ll/025-002.html). The recommendations for this guideline are based on study data identified through systematic literature searches. In areas where a literature search was not possible, an expert consensus was attained through a formal consensus process.

The S3 Guideline is valid until the next update. The validity period is set at 5 years from the date of publication of the updated version (2.0). Regular updates are planned. Comments and advice for the update process are welcome and can be sent to the following address: psychoonkologie@leitlinienprogramm-onkologie.de

The assessment and classification of the studies reviewed, with the exception of studies on screening procedures, was carried out in accordance with the Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine (see Table 4) system.

Table 4: Evidence Grading Scheme (based on the Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine scheme [available in full here]).

Funding was provided by the German Cancer Aid Foundation through the German Guideline Program in Oncology (GGPO). These funds were used for personnel costs, office supplies, license fees, and literature procurement, as well as external support for updating the Patient Guideline. The development of the guideline was editorially independent of the funding organization. There were no additional sponsors. A standardized declaration of conflicts of interest was obtained from all participants in the guideline group. These were reviewed and evaluated by members of the WG Conflicts of Interest (Prof. Dr. Joachim Weis, Dr. Markus Follmann, Dipl. Psych. Thorsten Kreikenbohm). In individual cases, a consultation took place with the respective mandate holders. The assessment of the disclosed information demonstrated a minor conflict of interest for all mandate holders. Conflicts of interest of minor relevance could be giving lectures on guideline topics on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, membership in professional associations or societies, as well as funding of research by private donors. Moderate conflicts of interest (only defined as paid consulting activities for companies in the health care industry) as well as high-level conflict of interest (defined as ownership interests) were not found in any of the persons involved, Thus, corresponding countermeasures (moderate relevance: abstention rule when voting; high relevance: abstention from deliberations and voting) were not necessary. The results from the reviewing process can be found in the Guideline Report (https://www.leitlinienprogramm-onkologie.de/leitlinien/psychoonkologie/).

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the collaborators for their exclusively voluntary work on the project.