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Current Oncology
Special Issues
Self-Management/Patient Activation and Self-Management Support Interventions for Cancer Survivors
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Self-Management/Patient Activation and Self-Management Support Interventions for Cancer Survivors

A special issue of Current Oncology (ISSN 1718-7729). This special issue belongs to the section "Oncology Nursing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 697

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Doris Howell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Princess Margaret Cancer Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada
Interests: self-management; patient activation; symptoms; distress; patient reported outcomes; health coaching
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, there has been increasing enthusiasm for self-management support (SMS) and health coaching interventions to support cancer patients in managing the effects of cancer and of its treatments, in order to optimize their health and survival. Numerous systematic and scoping reviews show the positive effects of self-management support and health coaching interventions on a range of health outcomes. Risk-based survivorship models of care are also emerging, with self-management as a core service across different risk levels. Unfortunately, the embedding of SMS for cancer populations into routine care and training in SMS and health coaching is still in progress, leaving populations of cancer patients vulnerable to worse health outcomes and survival. There is uncertainty about how these interventions can be implemented on a wider scale in diverse, vulnerable, and/or older cancer populations and in the context of the acute, episodic clinical encounters that are typical of cancer care delivery. For this Special Issue, we welcome manuscripts on recent advances in the field of self-management, self-management support, and health coaching for cancer populations and/or carers across all phases of the cancer trajectory, inclusive of trials. We welcome systematic reviews, original research, economic evaluations or cost-effectiveness studies, digital interventions, and implementation studies on this topic.

Prof. Dr. Doris Howell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Current Oncology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • self-management interventions
  • supported self-management
  • health coaching
  • patient activation
  • healthy lifestyle behaviors
  • patient activation
  • cancer and cancer survivorship

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 1332 KiB  
Article
Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of iCanWork: Theory-Guided Return-to-Work Intervention for Individuals Touched by Cancer
by Christine Maheu, Maureen Parkinson, Kyla Johnson, Wing Lam Tock, Naomi Dolgoy, Simon-Pierre Dupuis and Mina Singh
Curr. Oncol. 2025, 32(5), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol32050266 - 1 May 2025
Viewed by 231
Abstract
Background: Recent systematic reviews report a limited number of return-to-work (RTW) interventions for individuals touched by cancer (ITBC), with many falling short in effectiveness and lacking an integrated work-health approach. In response, iCanWork—a theoretically informed, multidisciplinary RTW intervention integrating vocational rehabilitation (VR) and [...] Read more.
Background: Recent systematic reviews report a limited number of return-to-work (RTW) interventions for individuals touched by cancer (ITBC), with many falling short in effectiveness and lacking an integrated work-health approach. In response, iCanWork—a theoretically informed, multidisciplinary RTW intervention integrating vocational rehabilitation (VR) and occupational therapy (OT)—was conceptualized and developed to address the gap identified in recent reviews for robust, work-health-focused RTW interventions. Methods: A pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary work-related outcomes of the iCanWork intervention among 23 ITBC participants randomized to either the intervention or control group. Feasibility was assessed through recruitment, retention, and engagement benchmarks; acceptability was measured using a participant satisfaction survey. Preliminary work-health-related outcomes included RTW status, work ability index (WAI) scores, and health-related quality of life (QoL) domains. Results: Feasibility benchmarks were achieved, with 92% recruitment, 83% retention, and 100% completing at least one VR session. Adherence to the session delivery benchmarks was met by 75% of participants before RTW and 41.7% after RTW. Participants rated the intervention highly for its tailored and supportive approach. Compared to the control group, the iCanWork group showed modest improvements in RTW status, WAI scores (mean change: +2.54), and QoL domains, including fatigue, social roles, and pain interference. Given the small sample size, these exploratory findings should be interpreted as preliminary signals to inform outcome selection for a future trial. Conclusions: iCanWork is a feasible and acceptable RTW intervention for ITBC with early indications of benefit. These findings inform the design and outcome selection for a future, larger trial aimed at evaluating the intervention’s potential to improve RTW outcomes for ITBC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Management/Patient Activation and Self-Management Support Interventions for Cancer Survivors)
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