Supporting Staff When Patients Cry for Help: Provider Satisfaction With a Cancer-Specific Mental Health Crisis Line

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

3-12-2026

Publication Title

Psychooncology

Keywords

Oncology, Psychology, Biomedical Social Sciences

Abstract

Background/Purpose: It is well documented that individuals diagnosed with cancer are at heightened risk of psychosocial distress and suicide. Medical staff are often first responders when patients express acute psychological concerns such as hopelessness and suicidal ideation. However, the majority of these providers express feeling unprepared to manage such concerns and may be left to navigate these matters without timely and specialized support. Given the need for acute psychosocial intervention for adults with cancer, our cancer center's Psych-Oncology and Social Work (SW) staff, based in an urban Midwestern city, developed a secure text messaging line for medical providers to request behavioral health support when mental health crises arise. Methods: A secure text-messaging platform was utilized to create a HIPPA-compliant method for medical staff to contact SW and Psych-Oncology providers. The “Cancer Psych Crisis” messaging line was marketed to Oncology staff during staff meetings/trainings and via cancer center emails. SW and Psych-Oncology responded to crises and triaged patients. Each contact with the crisis line was tracked. Staff who contacted the crisis line were emailed a questionnaire to share about their experience and level of satisfaction with the support provided. Results: Staff requested behavioral health support via the crisis line 13 times between May 2024 and June 2025. Across oncology specialties, average response time to staff requests on the crisis line was 1.9 min. Of the 13 staff surveyed, 12 returned surveys indicating uniformly high levels of satisfaction and helpfulness. All respondents reported Very High likelihood of future use. This presentation also explores qualitative feedback indicating positive provider satisfaction (e.g., “We are fortunate to have this service.”). Conclusions and Implications: A cancer-specific crisis line is a novel means of assisting medical providers in addressing the acute psychosocial needs unique to individuals with cancer and provides opportunity to highlight emergent needs of adult cancer patients. Preliminary data demonstrated that staff are highly satisfied with the speed and quality of the service. Barriers to implementation will be presented, as well as direction for future research, including a focus on patient-centered outcomes.

Volume

35

First Page

1

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