TY  - JOUR
AU  - Pauge, Sophie
AU  - Züger, Andrea
AU  - Richter, Luise
AU  - Mathies, Viktoria
AU  - Surmann, Bastian
AU  - Ernst, Thomas
AU  - Menold, Natalja
AU  - Greiner, Wolfgang
AU  - Winkler, Eva
AU  - Mehlis, Katja
TI  - Towards the assessment of financial distress among cancer patients: a conceptual model of the financial effects of a tumour disease.
JO  - Supportive care in cancer
VL  - 34
IS  - 3
SN  - 0941-4355
CY  - New York,NY
PB  - Springer
M1  - DKFZ-2026-00384
SP  - 190
PY  - 2026
N1  - #NCTZFB9#
AB  - A conceptualisation of subjective financial distress as a consequence of a cancer diagnosis and treatment is still missing due to a lack of a comprehensive model accounting for all relevant dimensions of financial effects of cancer experienced by patients. Our goal was to derive a model for the German healthcare system to shed light on the complex process of financial effects of cancer.The model was developed through systematic literature review and qualitative studies, including interviews with 18 cancer patients and a focus group with 4 social services representatives. The iterative process of model development was accompanied by an ongoing exchange in the interdisciplinary research team.The developed model of financial effects of cancer experienced by patients consists of three dimensions: (1) actual and anticipated financial disadvantages, (2) behavioural and cognitive coping strategies, and (3) subjective financial distress conceptualised as negative effects in different aspects of daily living: employment, living situation, family, social participation, health promoting lifestyle, additional personally preferred treatments, navigating the health system, and a further area so-called unspecific.Subjective financial distress is driven by different financial effects of cancer experienced by patients and is perceived as negative in various aspects of daily living. While the identified categories of daily living can be observed in countries with universal healthcare coverage, the content and degree of each subcategory depend on country-specific characteristics. The introduced model can be used to inform the development of a new patient-reported outcome measure (PROM).NCT05319925 (registration date, 2022-06-01).
KW  - Humans
KW  - Neoplasms: economics
KW  - Neoplasms: psychology
KW  - Neoplasms: therapy
KW  - Financial Stress: economics
KW  - Financial Stress: psychology
KW  - Adaptation, Psychological
KW  - Male
KW  - Female
KW  - Middle Aged
KW  - Germany
KW  - Focus Groups
KW  - Adult
KW  - Cost of Illness
KW  - Aged
KW  - Activities of Daily Living
KW  - Qualitative Research
KW  - Cancer (Other)
KW  - Conceptual model (Other)
KW  - Coping strategies (Other)
KW  - Financial distress (Other)
KW  - Financial toxicity (Other)
KW  - Patient-reported outcome (Other)
KW  - Patients (Other)
KW  - Qualitative research (Other)
KW  - Social services (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:41677914
C2  - pmc:PMC12901272
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s00520-026-10395-6
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/309935
ER  -