Annual Report 2022
Division of Cancer Information Service
Tomoko Takayama, Chikako Yamaki, Tomoyasu Hirano, Ayako Ishikawa, Emiko Ando, Yuko Ogo, Chie Ozawa, Yumiko Sano, Tomoko Takahashi, Haruyuki Nishida, Fumika Horinuki, Asako Mimura, Otome Watanabe, Sonoko Hirose, Atsushi Sekido, Hiroki Okamoto, Sarasa Kai, Yumiko Saito, Mutsumi Saito, Shinsuke Hayama, Chieko Maruyama, Yuri Mizota, Asako Ichikawa, Junko Okuno, Kiyomi Kawase, Masayo Sakurai, Toshiko Sato, Kumiko Shiga, Sayo Miyamoto, Ayako Idekawa, Mayu Okubo, Asuka Kjiwara, Yukie Kirishiki, Kaori Shioda, Junko Suzuki, Yumiko Suzuki, Maiko Tada, Hikaru Taniguchi, Xinyan Zhang, Mina Nakajima, Norie Hiraide, Sayoko Maeda, Riho Matsubara, Yurie Yamada
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 approximately 4,700 pages, and the annual usage is now at 54 million PV. For the website for the general public, we created and updated 80 titles.
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, making 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 451 Cancer Information & Support Centers (CISCs) deployed nationwide, with a biannual conference for prefectural CISC leadership, where we practitioners can share the latest set of best practices. In response to the updated Guideline for Designated Cancer Care Hospitals this year, the best ways to fulfilling CISCs’ expected roles and good practices were discussed.
Research Activities
As part of our multiyear efforts 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 reliable information in a shorter period. Additionally, through government commissioned projects, we collected and analyzed information about the implementation status of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) 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 curricula delivered via a site we operate) and on-site group training sessions. We have provided a total of 30 lectures for basic and further training courses. We started a three-year program for supporting regional training organizers that deals with the skills required to provide patients with medical information. We offered it in 8 prefectures in FY2022.
We have operated a certification scheme that visualizes well-trained cancer counselors and well-organized CISCs since 2015. Under this certification scheme, 126 certified cancer counselors and 4 certified CISCs were created/renewed in 2022, for a total of 426 and 30, respectively.
The DCIS has spearheaded efforts to encourage regional networking of CISC professionals, so that a more frequent and pertinent mix of skill-enhancing opportunities is made available to a broader set of professionals in this still nascent field. The regional CISC training forums, now in their twelfth year, were conducted online in seven regions; they have also 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 local CISCs when and where this is deemed desirable. As of the end of FY2022, 613 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. The fifth anniversary forum was held to thank the supporters and promising future development of this project.
Future Prospects
While the DCIS remains committed to our stated aims of bringing more accurate and reliable information to patients, families, caregivers, and 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. Considering this challenge, we endeavor to incrementally evolve both our production model and 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 2022
Journal
1. 田野 ルミ, 平野 公康. 【Recent topics in public health in Japan 2023】Preventing tobacco use among young adults has significant implications for public health in the future. 保健医療科学, 72:52-61, 2023
2. Hayakawa M, Watanabe O, Shiga K, Fujishita M, Yamaki C, Ogo Y, Takahashi T, Ikeguchi Y, Takayama T. Exploring types of conversational agents for resolving cancer patients’ questions and concerns: Analysis of 100 telephone consultations on breast cancer. Patient education and counseling, 106:75-84, 2023
3. Sakuraya A, Iida M, Imamura K, Ando E, Arima H, Asaoka H, Eguchi H, Hidaka Y, Hino A, Inoue A, Inoue R, Iwanaga M, Kobayashi Y, Komase Y, Otsuka Y, Sasaki N, Shimazu A, Tsuno K, Watanabe K, Kawakami N, Tsutsumi A. A proposed definition of participatory organizational interventions. Journal of occupational health, 65:e12386, 2023
4. Watanabe K, Imamura K, Eguchi H, Hidaka Y, Komase Y, Sakuraya A, Inoue A, Kobayashi Y, Sasaki N, Tsuno K, Ando E, Arima H, Asaoka H, Hino A, Iida M, Iwanaga M, Inoue R, Otsuka Y, Shimazu A, Kawakami N, Tsutsumi A. Usage of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire: A Systematic Review of a Comprehensive Job Stress Questionnaire in Japan from 2003 to 2021. International journal of environmental research and public health, 20:1814, 2023
5. Hirano T, Hanioka T. Philip Morris International advertisements target the oral health field in Japan, contrary to the latest World Dental Federation Policy Statement. Tobacco control, tobaccocontrol-2021-057191, 2022
6. Sasaki N, Imamura K, Watanabe K, Hidaka Y, Ando E, Eguchi H, Inoue A, Tsuno K, Komase Y, Iida M, Otsuka Y, Sakuraya A, Asai Y, Iwanaga M, Kobayashi Y, Inoue R, Shimazu A, Tsutsumi A, Kawakami N. The impact of workplace psychosocial factors on menstrual disorders and infertility: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic reviews, 11:195, 2022
7. Hirano T. Japan Tobacco corporate social responsibility activities misleadingly claim to advance Sustainable Development Goals. Tobacco control, tc-2022-057630, 2022