Abstract
The positive effects of self-help, such as increased knowledge about the disease and strengthening of a patient’s responsibility for their own recovery, are proven by the SHILD study. Access to self-help should also be possible or created for patients with head and neck tumors. With the rehabilitation project, we want to inform patients in the rehabilitation setting about the positive effects of self-help. For this purpose, volunteers initially visit five rehabilitation clinics every 3–4 weeks. They introduce the self-help work and themselves in a short presentation and then conduct informal individual and group discussions. The reactions of patients and clinic professionals show us that we can achieve our goals. A number of patients have joined the self-help groups. We were also able to arrange various telephone contacts. In the future, we want to expand our work to all rehabilitation clinics in Germany that treat people with head, neck, and mouth cancer.