Cancer rehabilitation support by cancer counseling centers (CARES)

The present study is a feasibility study. The aim is to develop intensified and needs-oriented support for the return to work of oncological patients with uncertain vocational reintegration prognosis by counselors in cancer counseling centers and to investigate the acceptance, feasibility and implementation conditions. Within the feasibility study, survey data of advice seekers with and without intensified counseling will be collected. The recruitment of the advice seekers is a sequential survey design (the advice seekers without intensified guidance are surveyed in the cancer counseling centers before counselors have been trained for the newly developed intervention). In addition, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the advice seekers, counselors, and representatives of social service providers, rehabilitation clinics, and cancer centers. Furthermore, participant observations of the counseling sessions are planned. It is assumed that an intervention can be developed that can be adapted to the framework conditions in each cancer counseling center and to the needs of the advice seekers within the framework of the feasibility study and the intervention tailoring.