Feasibility of a Rehabilitation Programme Targeted Patients Treated With Non-myeloablative Stem Cell Transplantation

Non-myeloablative allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (NMA-HSCT) is associated with innumerable complications and side-effects and a high treatment-related mortality. Maintaining quality of life, physical and psychosocial functioning and participation in society is therefore challenging for patients undergoing treatment with NMA-HSCT. This situation creates an urgent need for rehabilitation for patients to return to a meaningful everyday life, and for knowledge about how to best help this group of patients return to everyday life. The project aims to develop and examine the feasibility and safety of a multimodal interdisciplinary rehabilitation programme targeted patients undergoing treatment with NMA-HSCT. Three studies are planned. Study I is a qualitative interview study to get a profound insight into patients\' experiences and challenges after NMA-HSCT. Study II has a single arm longitudinal design with both a feasibility and an outcome component. Patients (N=30) are consecutively recruited at the Department of Haematology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark and enrolled in the 6-month HAPPY programme as soon as the decision about NMA-HSCT is final. Data is collected pre-NMA-HSCT, at 3-month, 6-month and 12-month after NMA-HSCT. Study III is a qualitative interview study, where patients who participated in the rehabilitation programme evaluate the programme\'s influence on their return to everyday life. The project contributes with knowledge about the feasibility of a rehabilitation programme targeted at a vulnerable group of chronic cancer patients with rare diseases. We will document the impact of an interdisciplinary intervention anchored in the hospital setting but aimed at reaching patients at home. If the intervention enhances quality of life, patient activation and functioning, it may not only reduce the number of hospitalizations and use of healthcare services, but may also allow more patients to maintain contact with the labour market and resume participation in society.