Psychosoziale Krebsberatungsstellen in Deutschland

Funding anchored into law in 2020 should ensure quality-assured and area-wide psychosocial care for cancer patients and their relatives in cancer counseling centers (KBS). The aim of this study is to assess the development of KBS between 2019 and 2023 and to identify possible gaps.

Potential KBS facilities were asked to complete a questionnaire on the founding dates of their main and branch offices and the number of counsellors.

In all, 127 of 159 identified main cancer counseling centers with 235 branch offices took part in the survey. Since the start of regular funding, 25 (+27%) cancer counseling centers main offices and 94 (+66%) branch offices have been established. In 2019, an average of 1.8 full-time equivalents (FTE) were employed at a KBS. By 2023, this had risen to 2.4 (+33%) FTE. The total of all counsellors in the participating KBS rose from 171 to 293 (+71%) FTE.

Statutory funding led to a number of new KBSs being founded since 2019, which has been accompanied by a significant increase in the average number of personnel employed at a KBS. In particular, the increased establishment of branch offices enables psychosocial care to be provided closer to home. Although this means that many regions of Germany are now adequately covered, this is still not the case in some rural regions.