Annual Report 2021
Division of Cancer Information Service
Tomoko Takayama, Masayo Hayakawa, Chikako Yamaki, Tomoyasu Hirano, Ayako Ishikawa, Emiko Ando, Yuko Ogo, Yumiko Sano, Tomoko Takahashi, Haruyuki Nishida, Fumika Horinuki, Asako Mimura, Otome Watanabe, Sonoko Hirose, Atsushi Sekido, Hiroki Okamoto, Sarasa Kai, Yumiko Saito, Asako Ichikawa, Junko Okuno, Masayo Sakurai, Toshiko Sato, Emi Sawai, Kumiko Shiga, Sayo Miyamoto, Ayako Idekawa, Hitomi Ooe, Mayu Okubo, Asuka Kajiwara, Yukie Kirishiki, Kaori Shioda, Ritsuko Shirai, Junko Suzuki, Yumiko Suzuki, Maiko Tada, Hikaru Taniguchi, Xinyan Zhang, Mina Nakajima, Norie Hiraide, Sayoko Maeda, Riho Matsubara, Yasue Yoshino
Introduction
The Cancer Information Service Division is engaged in activities related to the establishment and maintenance of a system for the provision of cancer information, with three main activities related to the creation of cancer-related information for the general public and medical professionals, support for its utilization, and nationwide dissemination/equalization. It also conducts activities related to tobacco policy recommendations and information creation.
The Team and What We Do
We have continued to enhance and update “Ganjoho.jp”, the nation’s trusted source of cancer information with about 44,000 pages, and annual usage is now at 48 million PV. In July 2021, the website was completely redesigned. The new site was designed to make it easier to access information, mainly for use with smartphones, which are increasing in number every year. For the general public website, we created and updated 31 cancer-related titles and 38 other titles, such as "The impact of cancer and cancer treatment on sexual life.”
All of our patient education publications, in either booklet or pamphlet formats, are available for free download online and hard copies are disseminated via a bulk order printing scheme, which has made it more cost effective for cancer care facilities and related healthcare providers of all sizes.
The Division of Cancer Information Service (DCIS) continues to act as a hub that brings together the over 2,000 specialists that run the 447 Cancer Information & Support Centers (CISCs) deployed nationwide, with a biannual conference for prefectural CISC leadership, where we look to allow the practitioners to share the latest set of best practices. In preparation for the revision of the National Cancer Control Plan and the Guideline for Designated Cancer Care Hospitals in the following year, issues related to CISCs and patients’ needs were compiled and proposals for revision of the Plan and Guideline were submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare through a higher level.
Research activities
As part of our multi-year effort to devise a more sustainable model for operating a national Cancer Information Service (as well as the CISC network), research programs are ongoing in the following areas: 1) Strategic review of the information portfolio to better define core/non-core domains, ways to further standardize both the content structure and the editorial processes, and opportunities and processes to better leverage other stakeholders (e.g., cancer academic societies and support groups) in collaborative production and load sharing, 2) Developing viable assessment scales for CISC activities, 3) Developing CISC support tools that enhance their ability to seek out reliable information in a shorter time span. Additionally, through government commissioned projects, we collected and analyzed information about the implementation status of FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) Parties, to implement tobacco control policies at a high level of achievement.
Nurturing Professionals
The cancer counselor specialists that staff the nationwide network of CISCs undergo both online training (e-learning curriculums delivered via a site we operate) and on-site group training sessions. We have provided a total of 43 lectures for basic and further training courses.
We started a three-year on-site training program for quality assurance in the cancer counseling process last year. We offered it in 4 prefectures in FY2021, and have offered it in all 47 prefectures. A newly introduced certification scheme has now made it possible for cancer counselors in hospitals outside the fold of the MHW-designation (nationally orchestrated regional cancer center designation) schemes to undergo the same set of fundamental training, and to receive certifications. This potentially opens an avenue for cancer information counselors to be deployed at upwards of 300 prefecture-designated cancer care hospitals and 447 nationally designated locations. In this scheme, 144 certified cancer counselors and nine certified CISCs were created/renewed in 2021, for a total of 474 and 26, respectively.
The DCIS has spearheaded efforts to encourage regional networking of CISC professionals, so that a more frequent and more pertinent mix of skill-enhancing opportunities are made available to a broader set of professionals in this still nascent field. The regional CISC training forums, now in their eleventh year, were conducted online in seven regions; also, they have become regionally self-sustaining, with an agreed-upon model to jointly manage annual programs with rotating venues.
We have also added public libraries to our dissemination channel with the donation-funded initiative “Cancer information gifts” - not only providing cancer information booklets and leaflets but also ensuring that reference librarians can put their users in touch with the local CISCs when and where this is deemed desirable. As of the end of FY2021, 534 public libraries throughout the nation have joined this network, and our networking venues, which bring interested librarians and CISC counselors together in half-day forums, have taken place online.
Future Prospects
While the DCIS remains committed to our stated aims of bringing more accurate and reliable information to patients, families, and caregivers, as well as healthcare practitioners, in a context-sensitive manner, we are constantly challenged by the need to keep abreast of the rapid proliferation of new information in all related fields from treatment through to survivorship, while running a tight ship within the constraints of a publicly funded agency. In light of the challenge, we endeavor to incrementally evolve both our production model, as well as the CISC framework, to better leverage the capabilities of various extramural partners, to arrive at a more sustainable set of processes and services.
List of papers published in 2021
Journal
1. Sezai I, Taniguchi C, Yoshimi I, Hirano T, Wakao F. How Self-Efficacy toward, Perceived Importance of, and Beliefs about Smoking Cessation Support Impact-Related Behaviors in Japanese Nursing Professionals. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19:2022
2. Taniguchi C, Sezai I, Yoshimi I, Hirano T, Wakao F. Effectiveness of a smoking cessation educational program for Japanese nurses on subsequent changes of behavior in delivering smoking cessation counseling. Tobacco induced diseases, 20:19, 2022
3. Yamaki C, Takayama T, Hayakawa M, Wakao F. Users' evaluation of Japan's cancer information services: process, outcomes, satisfaction and independence. BMJ open quality, 10:2021
4. Toh Y, Hagihara A, Shiotani M, Onozuka D, Yamaki C, Shimizu N, Morita S, Takayama T. Employing multiple-attribute utility technology to evaluate publicity activities for cancer information and counseling programs in Japan. Journal of cancer policy, 27:100261, 2021