The views of healthcare professionals on self-management of patients with advanced cancer: An interview study.

<bold>Objectives: </bold>Self-management of patients with advanced cancer is challenging. Although healthcare professionals may play a crucial role in supporting these patients, scant scientific attention has been paid to their perspectives. Therefore, we examined healthcare professionals' views on self-management and self-management support in this population.<bold>Methods: </bold>We conducted qualitative interviews with 27 purposively sampled medical specialists (n = 6), nurse specialists (n = 6), general practitioners (n = 8) and homecare/ hospice nurses (n = 7) in the Netherlands. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.<bold>Results: </bold>Healthcare professionals experienced self-management of patients with advanced cancer to be diverse, dynamic and challenging. They adopted instructive, collaborative and advisory roles in self-management support for this population. Whereas some professionals preferred or inclined towards one role, others indicated to switch roles, depending on the situation.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Just like patients with advanced cancer, healthcare professionals differ in their views and approaches regarding self-management and self-management support in this population. Therefore, instructive, collaborative and advisory self-management support roles will all be useful under certain circumstances.<bold>Practice Implications: </bold>Healthcare professionals can support self-management by being aware of their own views and communicating these clearly to their patients and colleagues. Education in self-management support should include self-reflection skills and discuss the relation between self-management and professional care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]