Evidence Based Clinical Care

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Research shows that people living with and beyond cancer often face ongoing side-effects and unmet needs that make daily life and returning to work difficult. With 1 in 2 people diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, 46% of working-age Australians not returning to work after cancer, and fatigue affecting around 90% during treatment and 40% afterwards, better survivorship care is clearly needed. Digital health is proving to be the way forward—over 1.3 billion people used digital health tools in 2024.

Our founders Andrew and Amy bring five decades of experience across cancer care, research, service design and health leadership. Their peer-reviewed publications in cancer survivorship, rehabilitation and return-to-work, together with our growing evidence base, underpin our programs grounded in the best available evidence and extensive real-world oncology practice. 

For the past two decades we have developed and contributed to countless research studies on a variety of topics including cancer and employment, oncology rehabilitation, adolescent young adult cancer experience, blood cancer survivorship, psycho-oncology, occupational therapy and cancer and much more. A list of our research publications is below.  

Heathcote, L., Smith, A., et al. (2019). Pain education for adolescents and young adults living beyond cancer: An interdisciplinary meeting report. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (JAYAO).

Hatton, R., Smith, A., Wallis, A., Chu, A., & Stanley, M. (2021). Return to work and cancer: Perspectives of occupational therapists. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ).

Liddiard, K., Batten, R., Wang, Y., Long, K., Wallis, A., & Brown, C. (2017). Job Club: A program to assist occupational therapy students' transition to practice. Education Sciences, 7(3), Article no. 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7030070

Markovic, C., Mackenzie, L., Lewis, J., & Singh, M. (2020). Working with cancer: A pilot study of work participation among cancer survivors in Western Sydney. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 67(6), 592–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12685

Smith, A., Murnane, A., Thompson, K., & Mancuso, S. (2019). ReActivate—A goal-oriented rehabilitation program for adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Rehabilitation Oncology, 37(4), 153–159. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.REO.0000000000000158

Taylor, S., Keesing, S., Wallis, A., Russell, B., Smith, A., & Grant, R. (2021). Occupational therapy intervention for cancer patients following hospital discharge: How and when should we intervene? A systematic review. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 68(6), 546–562. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12750

Wallis, A., Meredith, P., & Stanley, M. (2020). Cancer care and occupational therapy: A scoping review. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 67(2), 172–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12633

Wallis, A., Meredith, P., & Stanley, M. (2021). Living beyond cancer: Adolescent and young adult perspectives on choice of and participation in meaningful occupational roles. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 84(10), 628–636. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308022620960677

Wallis, A., Meredith, P., & Stanley, M. (2022). Changing occupational roles for the young adult with cancer: A longitudinal case study. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(3), 243–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12786

Wallis, A., Meredith, P., & Stanley, M. (2022). Occupational therapy in oncology palliative care for adolescents and young adults: Perspectives of Australian occupational therapists. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(2), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12780

Wallis, A., Smith, A., & Stanley, A. (2019). Occupational therapy in cancer care: Therapists’ perceptions of current challenges to practice in Australia. Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Zomerdijk, N., Jongenelis, M., Short, C., Smith, A., Turner, J., & Huntley, K. (2021). Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress, unmet supportive care needs, and fear of cancer recurrence among haematological cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Supportive Care in Cancer.

Zomerdijk, N., Jongenelis, M., Turner, J., Huntley, K., Smith, A., & Short, C. (2022). Telehealth access among hematology patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: A cross-sectional survey. Leukemia & Lymphoma, 63(6), 1488–1491. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2021.2023743

Zomerdijk, N., Jongenelis, M., Yuen, E., Smith, A., et al. (2022). Experiences and needs of people with haematological cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study. Psycho-Oncology, 31(3), 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.5832

 Zomerdijk, Nienke, Jongenelis, Michelle I., Collins, Ben, Turner, Jane, Short, Camille E., Smith, Andrew and Huntley, Kathryn (2023). Factors associated with changes in healthy lifestyle behaviours among hematological cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 14 1081397, 1-8. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1081397 

Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre. (2019). Returning to work after cancer: A guide for cancer survivors. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Cancer Australia. (2022). Cancer in Australia statistics. Retrieved from https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au

Flinders Cancer Survivorship Centre. (2020). Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for cancer survivors: Evidence and practice. Flinders University.

Jefford, M., Koczwara, B., Emery, J., Thornton-Benko, E., & Vardy, J. L. (2020). The important role of general practice in the care of cancer survivors. Australian Journal of General Practice, 49(5), 288-292. https://doi.org/10.31128/AJGP-09-19-5077

Jefford, M., Rowland, J., & Maher, J. (2016). Improving outcomes for cancer survivors: Perspectives on research challenges and opportunities. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 34(15), 1731-1736. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2015.64.8040

Koczwara, B., Bonner, C., & Reul-Hirche, H. (2018). Supporting cancer survivors to return to work: A qualitative study of Australian healthcare professionals. Journal of Cancer Survivorship, 12(5), 668-677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-018-0701-0

Smith, Andrew., Murnane, Andrew., Thompson, Kate., Mancuso, Sam., ReActivate—A Goal-Orientated Rehabilitation Program for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. Rehabilitation Oncology 37(4):p 153-159, October 2019. | DOI: 10.1097/01.REO.0000000000000158

Wallis, A., Meredith, P., & Stanley, M. (2021). The lived experience of returning to work after cancer: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 68(4), 327-337. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12727

Cancer Statistics (2025). www.cancerresearchuk.org/ 

Digital Health-Statistics and Fact Sheets. Statista. (2025)https://www.statista.com/topics/2409/digital-health/ 

Fabi, A., et al. (2020). Cancer-related fatigue in cancer survivors: An overview. Frontiers in Oncology, 10, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.01032 

World Health Organization. (2020). Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. International Agency for Research on Cancer. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21660