(1) Prevention: Occupational therapy can provide multi-level intervention for cancer patients. Perhaps the most important and often overlooked intervention is the intervention of the therapist at the preventive level. For example, the ability to influence a person's behavior choices and change behaviors and habits that have a negative impact on health may be a good starting point. Therapists can send positive rehabilitation messages to all the people he contacts. After hearing the positive information about smoking prevention, you may not learn from a smoking therapist, but you can also help smokers quit smoking. Other preventive measures can focus on self-examination and regular tumor examination because therapists focus on helping people achieve a balanced lifestyle, that is, self-care, work, entertainment and rest. Therefore, the therapist naturally becomes a member of the tumor prevention team.

(2) Early treatment after diagnosis: The initial treatment of tumor can include surgical chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy, both of which have side effects. Before surgery, therapists can participate in education and training, so that patients can understand the problems that will occur after surgery. It is generally believed that preoperative training can improve the functional outcome of patients and is conducive to postoperative rehabilitation.

Occupational therapists also play an important role in the recovery treatment after surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This level of intervention can be implemented in hospitals, families or community health institutions. Cancer patients may have difficulties in ADL activities due to functional changes, such as self-care work, entertainment or other difficulties. The intervention of occupational therapy can benefit them. The intervention of therapists is also helpful to prevent long-term disability and restore normal function. Patients' functions can be supported by rehabilitation or palliative care.

(3) Postoperative treatment: In the early postoperative period, the therapist can encourage and help patients to carry out daily or targeted activities safely. Patients may be afraid of exercise. Therefore, it is necessary to guide them in the way and scope of safe exercise, and tell patients that the exercise that should be avoided before the wound heals may involve the wound during physical exercise, which may make patients feel scared. Therapists should cooperate with surgeons to give guidance on this issue. Some patients may have their limbs amputated due to tumors, which may change their physical appearance. The difference between the treatment of this kind of patients and traumatic amputation is that in addition to traditional wound care and training in wearing artificial limbs, further drug treatment is needed. For such patients, therapists should train them to use prosthetic limbs correctly for functional compensation.

(4) Chemotherapy: When chemotherapy drugs are used to kill cancer cells, there will be some side effects. Common side effects include alopecia, peripheral neuropathy, thrombocytopenia and prolonged coagulation time, fatigue (related to impaired liver function), changes in red blood cell composition (anemia) and anxiety and fear affecting function.

Neuropathy caused by chemotherapy often leads to temporary suspension of wrists and feet, burning and stinging, which will seriously affect the function, because patients may be unwilling to take things or stand up for chemotherapy because of pain, or they may be infected because of immunosuppression. Brain virus infection can lead to blindness and hepatitis.

In the acute phase of chemotherapy, hospitalized patients may need occupational therapy because of long-term bed rest or self-care. In addition, fatigue will limit their participation in activities, because some patients are unable or too lazy to participate in daily activities.

Peripheral neuropathy can lead to weakness of hands and feet and sensory changes. At this time, patients often can't grasp and use objects at will, feel abnormal (numbness or burning sensation) and lose their grasp and fine movements, which may hinder the daily activities of patients, because patients may fall to the ground or have pain when using daily appliances (such as combs or toothbrushes).

Patients with thrombocytopenia may be prone to bleeding and have to temporarily give up doing some normal daily activities until the platelet count improves.

Under the above circumstances, occupational therapists should give different help according to the needs of each patient.

(5) Radiotherapy: Radiotherapy is also an intervention method in the acute stage of tumor. In some cases, the therapist can cooperate with the radiotherapy staff, such as making a posture placement device (splint) with thermoplastic plates to help patients keep their posture unchanged during radiotherapy.

One of the possible side effects of radiotherapy is burns. From the perspective of occupational therapy, we should avoid the movement of burn area or assist rom movement when necessary to prevent complications such as scapulohumeral periarthritis.

(6) Rehabilitation stage: The therapeutic purpose of acute therapists is usually to enable patients to be discharged from hospital or transferred to inpatient rehabilitation institutions, subacute centers, long-term care centers or clinical care institutions. After acute treatment, patients should be able to engage in intensive rehabilitation activities. The goal of cancer patients' rehabilitation is to restore and support their functions in a healthy mode, that is, to learn to live with disabilities.

In a word, almost all cancer patients can benefit from occupational therapy. Occupational therapists can intervene in patients' homes, communities and workplaces in hospital inpatient departments. The essence of occupational therapy for cancer patients is to treat patients beyond the degree of disability caused by cancer and help them overcome the obstacles of activity and ability to participate in work. It can be predicted that with the continuous development of more and more creative and effective occupational therapy measures, occupational therapists will be able to comprehensively improve the functional rehabilitation and quality of life of tumor patients.