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Supportive care
Pronunciation
Definition 1
Care given to improve the quality of life of patients who have a serious or life-threatening disease. The goal of supportive care is to prevent or treat as early as possible the symptoms of a disease, side effects caused by treatment of a disease, and psychological, social, and spiritual problems related to a disease or its treatment. Also called comfort care, palliative care, and symptom management. (NCI Dictionary)
Definition 2
Supportive care is that which helps the patient and their family to cope with cancer and treatment of it from pre-diagnosis, through the process of diagnosis and treatment, to cure, continuing illness or death and into bereavement. It helps the patient to maximize the benefits of treatment and to live as well as possible with the effects of the disease. Supportive therapy may provide a patient with friendship, encouragement, practical advice such as access to community resources or how to develop a more active social life, vocational counseling, suggestions for minimizing friction with family members, and, above all, hope that the life of the patient may be improved. In all situations, supportive therapy involves the teaching of such life skills as managing medication, learning to socialize, handling finances, and getting a job. (NCI Thesaurus)
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