Background: Telephone-based interventions are frequently used to address cancer patient's needs, often delivered by nurses; however, little is known about nurses' opinions of such interventions.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate expert nurses' perceptions of hemato-oncology patient's needs, use of telephone interventions providing support and symptom management and intervention acceptability from a service provider perspective. A qualitative study was undertaken with focus group and individual interview. Inductive and deductive data analysis was performed using Framework Analysis and the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability.
Results: Two themes emerged: (1) perceived needs of haemato-oncology patients across the cancer trajectory - multifactorial influences, dynamic information needs, and continuity of care, (2) acceptability for nurses delivering interventions was determined by identification of need, agreed expectations and organisational support for the intervention.
Conclusions: Greater understanding of contextual factors for recipients and individuals delivering healthcare interventions may contribute to identification of potential barriers and facilitators to adoption in clinical practice.
Keywords: Telephone; cancer; intervention; nursing practice; qualitative approaches.