Psychosocial rehabilitation of cancer patients after curative therapy

Abstract

The concept of rehabilitation of cancer patients is based on the relatively recent awareness of the strong interrelations existing between physical, psychological and social aspects of human life. Cancer potentially disrupts all of these primary components of quality of life. The aim of rehabilitation is to promote global physical and psychosocial adjustment by acting at all modifiable levels, namely strengthening individual coping resources through psychotherapy, improving quantity and quality of familial and social support, and restoring optimal physical functioning.