scholarly journals The Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Nigerian Patients With Cancer

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 118s-118s
Author(s):  
O. Fatiregun ◽  
P. Okediji ◽  
O. Awofeso ◽  
A. Sowunmi ◽  
M. Habeebu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Supportive Care ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
The Mean

Background: Cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality globally, and its incidence has been on the increase in Nigeria, and the rest of the world. The diagnosis and treatment of cancer is associated with significant psychological distress and patients face a broad range of challenges which create a huge vacuum of “unmet needs” that patients feel as a loss of personal control and frustration. This impacts negatively on their quality of life and other care outcomes. Aim: This study was aimed at determining the magnitude, distribution, and predictors of unmet needs in Nigerian cancer patients. Methods: Using a descriptive cross-sectional approach, 205 cancer patients attending oncology outpatient clinics at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, were assessed for unmet needs. Eligible patients were given the self-administered Supportive Care Needs Survey - Short Form (SCNS-SF34) questionnaire with focus on five domains of need - psychological, health system and information, physical and daily living, patient care and support, and sexuality. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS version 20, and the level of significance was set at < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the 205 cancer patients was 47.4 ± 12.3 years, who are predominantly females (96.6%). The most common diagnosis was breast cancer (92.2%), and the mean duration since diagnosis was 20.9 ± 21.9 months for all the patients. The mean SCNS score was 83.9 ± 24.8, and at least 46% of the participants indicated unmet needs in 15 items of the SCNS. The most frequent unmet needs were related to the health information (53.4%), physical and daily living (49.4%), and psychological (48.5%) need domains. The most frequently met needs were in the sexuality, and patient care and support need domains. None of the factors considered (age, gender, marital status, family type, educational attainment, employment status, economic status, presence of financial support, social support, and cancer type) were significantly predictive of unmet needs in these patients ( P > 0.05). Conclusion: Nigerian cancer patients experience high levels of unmet needs, particularly in the areas of health information, physical and daily living, and psychological health. Hence, there is an urgent need to provide sustainable and long-term interventions and support for these patients to help them achieve increased care satisfaction, improved treatment outcomes, and a better quality of life.

scholarly journals Pattern and Predictors of Unmet Supportive Care Needs in Cancer Patients

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 117s-117s
Author(s):  
P. Okediji ◽  
O. Salako ◽  
O. Fatiregun
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Supportive Care ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Supportive Care Needs ◽  
Emotional Instability ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Wide Range

Background: The incidence of cancers is increasing, and this is associated with an increase in the burden of the disease. Patients with cancer have to deal with reduced physical functioning, emotional instability, difficulty in concentrating, and an overall diminished feeling of well-being. This creates deficits that have not been well catered for by traditional cancer care, leading to an overall dissatisfaction with care, and a reduced quality of life. Aim: This review aims at assessing the pattern of unmet needs in cancer patients and to provide information as to the factors that influence the perception of unmet needs. Methods: Studies directly focused on unmet needs in cancer patients were retrieved from MEDLINE, PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar; from the earliest records until 2016. Unmet needs in cancer patients have been measured with a wide variety of tools, with the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) being the most commonly used as a result of its strong psychometric properties, ease of use, responsiveness, and its coverage of all the domains of unmet needs. Results: The most common unmet needs were in the domains of health system and information, psychological, and physical and daily living. These needs were influenced by sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, marital status, income level; and clinical factors such as location of cancer, stage of disease, and tumor size. Conclusion: It is clear that cancer patients experience a wide range of unmet supportive needs, for which efforts need to be desperately made to improve the supportive care services for these patients and their quality of life. While it may not be possible to meet all the needs of every cancer patient, routine and regular monitoring of unmet needs using the appropriate tools is crucial so that cancer care and other health professionals can develop, implement, and streamline specific aspects of cancer care to strategically meet the specific needs of their patients.

Head and neck cancer patients want us to support them psychologically in the posttreatment period: Survey results

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 481-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Henry ◽  
Laura-Anne Habib ◽  
Matthew Morrison ◽  
Ji Wei Yang ◽  
Xuejiao Joanna Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Head And Neck Cancer ◽  
Supportive Care ◽  
Head And Neck ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Neck Cancer ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Supportive Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs

AbstractObjectives:No study systematically has investigated the supportive care needs of general head and neck cancer patients using validated measures. These needs include physical and daily living needs, health system and information needs, patient care and support needs, psychological needs, and sexuality needs. Identifying the unmet needs of head and neck cancer patients is a necessary first step to improving the care we provide to patients seen in our head and neck oncology clinics. It is recommended as the first step in intervention development in the Pan-Canadian Clinical Practice Guideline of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (see Howell, 2009). This study aimed to identify: (1) met and unmet supportive care needs of head and neck cancer patients, and (2) variability in needs according to demographics, disease variables, level of distress, and quality-of-life domains.Methods:Participants were recruited from the otolaryngology–head and neck surgery clinics of two university teaching hospitals. Self-administered questionnaires included sociodemographic and medical questions, as well as validated measures such as the Supportive Care Needs Survey–Short Form (SCNS-SF34), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G) and Head and Neck Module (FACT-H&N) (quality of life measures).Results:One hundred and twenty-seven patients participated in the survey. 68% of them experienced unmet needs, and 25% revealed a clinically significant distress level on the HADS. The highest unmet needs were psychological (7 of top 10 needs). A multiple linear regression indicated a higher level of overall unmet needs when patients were divorced, had a high level of anxiety (HADS subscale), were in poor physical condition, or had a diminished emotional quality of life (FACT-G subscales).Significance of results:The results of this study highlight the overwhelming presence of unmet psychological needs in head and neck cancer patients and underline the importance of implementing interventions to address these areas perceived by patients as important. In line with hospital resource allocation and cost-effectiveness, one may also contemplate screening patients for high levels of anxiety, as well as target patients who are divorced and present low levels of physical well-being, as these patients may have more overall needs to be met.

QOLP-30. LONG-TERM UNMET SUPPORTIVE CARE NEEDS OF TYA CHILDHOOD BRAIN TUMOUR SURVIVORS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi189-vi189
Author(s):  
Emma Nicklin ◽  
Galina Velikova ◽  
Adam Glaser ◽  
Michelle Kwok-WIlliam ◽  
Miguel Debono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Supportive Care ◽  
Brain Tumour ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Supportive Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Long Term Follow Up

Abstract INTRODUCTION The supportive care needs of long-term childhood brain tumour survivors, now teenagers and young adults (TYAs), and their caregivers are largely unknown. TYAs are a unique patient cohort with specific challenges and vulnerabilities differing from children or older adults. We aimed to describe their supportive care needs and explore associations between needs and quality of life (QoL).This is the first study to collect quantitative data about needs in this survivorship group. METHODS Participants were recruited from long-term follow-up clinics (in three National Health Service Trusts in England) and online. Participants included childhood brain tumour survivors, ≥ 5 years from diagnosis, currently aged 13-30, and their primary caregivers. Survivors completed the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) Short-Form and Paediatric Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Brain (Peds-FACT-Br). While caregivers completed the SCNS-Partners and Caregivers (SCNS-P&C) and the Caregiver Quality of Life Index–Cancer (CQOLC). RESULTS In total, 112 individuals (69 survivors/43 caregivers) participated. Survivors reported on average 9.4 (±8.5) unmet needs. Needs were greatest in the psychological domain, with anxiety (60.3%), uncertainty about the future (50.7%) and feeling down and depressed (48.5%) most commonly reported. Caregivers reported on average 12.4 (±12.3) unmet needs. Again, the greatest number of unmet needs were observed in the psychological domain. Many caregivers also reported information needs around financial support/government benefits (42.9%) and possible survivor fertility problems (42.9%). Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that female survivors, unemployed survivors, survivors further away from diagnosis, and single caregivers were more likely to report unmet needs. More unmet needs were significantly associated with poorer QoL in survivors and caregivers. CONCLUSION This research provides leads to improving supportive care and long-term follow-up services. Psychological support appears to be the biggest gap in care. Understanding unmet needs and recognising what services are required is critical to improving quality of long-term survival.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the cancer survivors’ unmet needs measure among gynecological cancer patients in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Haryani Haryani ◽  
Yati Afiyanti ◽  
Besral Besral ◽  
Dewi Gayatri ◽  
Kemala Wahidi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supportive Care ◽  
Cancer Survivors ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Gynecological Cancer ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Supportive Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs

Background: The number of gynecological cancer survivors in Indonesia is growing, yet little is recognized about their supportive care needs due to a lack of validated assessment to measure them. This study aimed to culturally adapt the Cancer survivors? unmet needs into Indonesian language and to test its validity and reliability for Indonesian gynecological cancer patients. Methods: We performed the translation and adaptation of the Cancer survivors? unmet needs based on Beaton?s cross-cultural adaptation process of self-report measure. We then evaluated the psychometric properties of Cancer survivors? unmet needs -Indonesian with 298 participants from three hospitals across Indonesia. Results: Five factors were extracted from Exploratory Factor Analysis with factor loading >0.4. Cancer survivors? unmet needs - Indonesian had negative correlations with The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30, indicating that the higher score of unmet needs resulted in the lower score of quality of life. The Cronbach?s ? coefficient for the Cancer survivors? unmet needs - Indonesian ranged from 0.75-0.95. Conclusions: The Cancer survivors? unmet needs - Indonesian version offers a valid and reliable scale for assessing supportive care needs among Indonesian gynecological cancer patients. The Cancer survivors? unmet needs-Indonesian could help clinicians to assess supportive care needs among Indonesian gynecological cancer patients. The low-resource countries such as Indonesia could use the evidence from the Cancer survivors? unmet needs assessment to develop the supportive care service in the clinical settings.

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