Project: Reducing scanxiety: Developing interventions in co-creation with patients, relatives and health care providers

2024-09-16 – 2025-09-15

Abstract

Scanxiety describes the anxiety/distress and discomfort experienced by cancer patients before, during or after medical imaging. Patients may experience scanxiety because of fear of relapse, possible long-term consequences of the scan, discomfort during the scan, long waiting times, etc. Scanxiety affects not only patients but also their loved ones, as cancer and its treatment also affect their loved ones. Currently, we identify several ‘gaps’ around scanxiety:

• No standardised measuring instrument is used
• Scanxiety is only measured at 1 point in time (usually just before the scan)
• Scanxiety is rarely measured in loved ones
• Few interventions for reducing scanxiety have been researched/applied to date

This project focuses on the last gap. Through co-creative workshops together with patients, relatives and healthcare providers, the method and content of interventions to reduce scanxiety will be determined.