Occupational recipes created with a community-dwelling cancer survivor

a case report on follow-up focusing on elements of occupational experience that affect satisfaction

Abstract

A dialogue workshop was held six times at weekly intervals, with the content being to set occupation focused goals by reflection in an occupational diary for three cancer survivors living in the community. This report aims to report on the effects of individualized follow-up with one breast cancer survivor, who was considered to require individualized follow-up because her quality of life （QOL） was predicted to reduce due to her personality of putting off taking care of herself. The follow-up consisted of three sessions （planning for occupational performance, performing the occupations, and providing a significant occupation collection "occupational recipe"） of approximately two hours each, held once a week, after identifying significant occupational experiences that affect satisfaction from the occupational diary kept by the cancer survivor for five weeks. The results showed that the identification of significant occupational experiences enabled the survivor to take the bus to go shopping alone for the first time after cancer treatment. Furthermore, the survivor's QOL improved above the minimum important difference two months after the end of the follow-up compared to before the follow-up. This was achieved by creating an "occupational recipe" that the survivor could use when she felt more painful. This report may contribute to the development of a novel program that integrates the dialogue workshop and this follow-up.