Psycho‐oncology and primary prevention in cancer control plans: an absent voice?

AbstractBackgroundOne third of cancer deaths are attributable to modifiable lifestyle, behaviour and psychosocial risk factors. Psycho‐oncology can contribute significantly to prevention initiatives such as those described in national cancer control plans (NCCPs), to reduce or eliminate these risk factors. However, the extent to which psycho‐oncology expertise has informed prevention objectives in plans is unclear.MethodsAccordingly, 35 English language NCCPs were located via existing databases and were searched using Adobe text searches (‘psycho’, ‘social’, ‘behav’ and ‘intervention’) to identify (a) representations of psycho‐oncology, its dimensions (psychological, social and behavioural) and roles (e.g. psychologist); and (b) behaviour/lifestyle change interventions.ResultsA third of NCCPs included the term psycho‐ or psychosocial‐oncology; approximately half referred to a psycho‐oncology dimension regarding prevention and early detection and half included actions/objectives relating to health professionals and provision of psychosocial care. The majority of cancer plans included prevention outcomes and focussed primarily on smoking cessation and alcohol reduction. Interventions