Comprehensive Palliative Care for Cancer Patients in Vietnam

There are exponential increases in cancer incidence and mortality worldwide and in Vietnam. Cancer affects patient\'s quality of life, which can be improved by palliative care. In Vietnam, due to a shortage in human resources for social workers, palliative care is mainly focused on medical aspect. A new comprehensive palliative care model, that provides multidisciplinary support including psychosocial support to patients, was developed. This research\'s objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of comprehensive palliative care (CPC) on improving the quality of life among cancer patients at a hospital in Vietnam. This randomized control trial is performed among 100 advanced cancer patients at University Medical Center at Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.The measurement tools include the Vietnamese Palliative Care Outcome Scale (VietPOS), the 5-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Data collection has been conducting through face-to-face interviews three times: baseline, week 3, and week 6. Paired t-test (or Wilcoxon Rank sum test) and Student-t-test (or Mann -Whitney U test) will be used to evaluate and compare changes in quality of life and psychological distress within and between groups. Intention- to - treat analysis is used in the study. This is the first research that study the effectiveness of a palliative care psychosocial intervention on cancer patients in Vietnam. The result can be used to advocate for multidisciplinary palliative care in Vietnam.