A qualitative study of healthcare providers' perceptions and suggestions for developing cancer survivorship care models in South Korea.

This study aimed to explore healthcare providers' perceptions of the issues and problems as well as suggestions regarding the development of cancer survivorship care models in South Korea. An exploratory, descriptive, qualitative study was conducted with eight Korean healthcare providers using individual interviews. Purposive sampling was performed in a university hospital in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Three concepts of the Chronic Care Model (CCM) were employed to identify the issues and problems with developing a survivorship care model for Korean cancer survivors. Based on these concepts, seven themes were identified: (1) absence of a multidisciplinary care system; (2) fragmented care services; (3) lack of emotional support; (4) absence of a shared care system for long-term survivorship care; (5) lack of communication between physicians and cancer survivors; (6) limited resources in the communities; and (7) poorly tailored long-term survivorship cancer care. In terms of suggestions, four themes were identified: (1) healthcare organisation; (2) clinical information systems; (3) community resources; and (4) follow-up care. The current study identified the applicability of key concepts from the CCM to formulate a Korean cancer survivorship model. Findings suggest that cancer survivors should be managed as persons with chronic diseases based on long-term survivorship care.