111 Background: A fundamental tenet of survivorship care is to identify and deliver a wide range of supportive care services. Survivors rely on clinicians to provide integrated care personalized to their own supportive care needs. Yet there is lack of evidence demonstrating which method is “best practice” when assessing survivor’s needs. The aim of our Plan-Do-Study-Act quality improvement project was to determine the best method to identify survivors’ supportive care needs and coordinate services. Methods: We used the appointment list of the Breast Survivorship Clinic to identify 114 adult survivors seen for their initial survivorship visit between January-March 2014. Survivors were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their needs related to: 1) energy-balance, 2) complementary medicine, 3) lymphedema, 4) psychosocial concerns, 5) sexual health, and 6) tobacco use. Survivors were randomly assigned into 3 groups to identify the best method to assess their health care needs: 1) Mail, 2) Secure Electronic Messaging, and 3) Navigation Visit with Health Educator (HE). Questionnaires for the mail and electronic messaging groups were distributed before being seen in the clinic. Navigation participants completed the questionnaire during the visit with HE. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and compare group characteristics. Results: A total of 114 patients were randomized to complete the assessment by either mail (N=28), secured electronic message (N=50), or during the navigation visit (N=36). The in-person, navigation visit had the highest completion rate (78%) compared to secured message (22%), and mail (7%). An overwhelming majority of survivors’ in the navigation group (93%) indicated they had needs in in at least one of the 6 domains. The top two needs across all groups were nutrition and physical activity. Conclusions: This evaluation suggests the use of a health navigator to guide the survivor through the needs assessment was the most successful way to assess needs of long-term breast cancer survivors. Enhanced navigation during a cancer survivor’s visit can be used to tailor integrative health services, which can improve their well-being and mental health outcomes.
Unmet Supportive Care Needs among Breast Cancer Survivors of Community-Based Support Group in Kuching, Sarawak
