Safe, nurturing environment

The environment at Massey POS was considered to be safe and nurturing by POS participants and some found value in not being at the hospital. This is a significant finding as it contradicts with previous psycho-oncology service international

recommendations which state that psycho-oncology services should be seen as an integral part of the oncology team and situated within the hospital with the aim at reducing the stigma associated with seeing a psychologist (Holland, 2003). However,

this current study’s findings are aligned with the opinion of the Department of Health, Western Australia (2008), that the setting of psycho-oncology services should be family and culturally friendly. They also assert that “the physical environment should

recognise the right of individuals to privacy and confidentiality when discussing personal issues” (p. 13). The Massey POS is considered to be an integral part of the MidCentral District Health Oncology team while being outside of the hospital itself. An aspect of feeling safe that was expressed by many POS participants was the feeling of nurturing that they felt in coming to the Massey Clinic. It was clear by their

following comments that for some their initial feeling of well-being actually originated from their encounter with administration staff before their meeting with the

psychologist.

Clients were made to feel welcome and “cared for” and both Lorraine and Sarah express their appreciation of being made welcome at reception.

No, no the service was fantastic. I loved going to get my cup of tea when I went into the waiting room {Laughter}, “would you like a cup of tea, yes please, thank you very much” no, no problems at all……. it was nice but like the atmosphere was nice um receptionists were, were great you know and yeah, my cup of tea when I got in was very welcome. (Lorraine – POS)

The receptionist is always friendly and “can I get you a cup of tea” and I think that's really important its welcoming but at the same time not too intrusive. (Sarah – POS)

Jill commented directly that she felt her mental health was improved by seeing the psychologist outside the hospital. Compared to the Massey Clinic Jill did not feel that the hospital was a comfortable or safe place for her to be.

Even though the hospital is there for your good, yeah, there is something about being in a hospital environment that is, that you, you didn’t, you know, you don’t

really want to be there {laughs} So being out of that environment is probably a little bit more helpful, for your mental health. (Jill - POS).

Susan talked about being in the POS environment as if she felt protected and safe from the world outside.

Yeah, they’re quite good supportive, kind of a safe environment, you know? ……even though it’s on campus, it’s kind of like when I come here, everything is outside, when I’m here everything’s kind of safe when I’m here. (Susan – POS family)

For Peter the knowledge that what he said to the psychologist was confidential provided a feeling of safety to him, to the extent that he considered talking with the psychologist was as comfortable as talking to his parents.

It probably is actually yeah when I think about it it is, because although you say you don’t want to talk about it you do want to talk about it and this is why this has been so good because you can talk about it. There are certain things that I couldn’t even talk about but I did, I was able to talk about it with [the

psychologist] knowing that it was confidential. There are some things ah, I shared just about everything with my parents, my own parents but only because I am very close to them but I can imagine some other people wouldn’t even tell their own parents, so you know. (Peter – POS family)

Most participants felt that having appointments away from the hospital was not a problem although some did find it difficult to find the Massey Psychology Clinic at their first appointment. Gary actually found additional benefit of being at the Massey location as he and his wife took the opportunity to spend time together on nearby walks in an environment which enabled them to spend time together and nurture their

relationship.

The good part was afterwards we would drive back through the esplanade just see the blossoms and that um occasionally we would go for a walk there [at Massey] so that was good. (Gary – POS family)

The sub-theme of Feeling Safe highlighted participants’ views that POS offered a Service that was staffed by clinicians who were professional and trained at what they do. They had a perception from prior knowledge about the Service provided by the medical staff who referred them and from information leaflets, that the psychologists had expertise and were professional in the area of helping people affected by cancer. This relates to research by Gibbons, 1969 and Claiborn and Schmidt (1977) linking pre- session information to positive views of the therapist. Cancer participants also felt that talking to someone they did not know was beneficial similar to findings by Croy (2010), Boulton et al., (2001) and MacCormack et al., (2001). The Service was also perceived by former POS clients as a safe and nurturing place to be.