INTRODUCTION:

Helpline services have existed in Cancer Councils for more than 20 years as an information and support service and gateway to a myriad of practical, informational and emotional support programs for people affected by cancer. Cancer Council Victoria’s 13 11 20 Information and Support line is staffed by oncology nurses who receive approximately 1-2 nutrition related calls per day.

AIMS:

To explore:

1) The nature of nutrition related enquires received via 13 11 20 and;

2) The role of the Helpline nurse in responding to these queries  

METHODOLOGY:

Calls made to 13 11 20 over a 3 month period that included ‘nutrition’ as a discussion topic were audited. Call recordings were de-identified and transcribed. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, thematic analysis was performed to assess the nature of enquires received and the information and support required by callers.  

OUTCOMES:

A total of 24 calls were analysed. Calls were from cancer patients (n=12), or carers/family and friends (n=12). Three key themes emerged: (i) Nutrition as a segue for discussing other unmet needs; (ii) Nurse intuition, assessment and scope of practice; (iii) Fear and uncertainty as an underlying motivator for seeking support.

Callers often initiated contact with 13 11 20 under the guise of seeking information on discrete topics (e.g. diet and breast cancer) but then presented with other unmet needs. Nurses assessed where dietary concerns sat in the hierarchy of a caller’s sometimes complex set of needs.

CONCLUSION:

Results support the notion that people may look for a tangible reason to make contact with support services in the first instance. In the absence of non-verbal cues, Helpline nurses must ‘listen between the lines’ and be able to recognise when deeper issues may be hiding behind more overt reasons for information seeking.