%0 Journal Article
%T Prevalence and correlates of cancer survivors¡¯ supportive care needs 6£¿months after diagnosis: a population-based cross-sectional study
%A Allison W Boyes
%A Afaf Girgis
%A Catherine A D'Este
%A Alison C Zucca
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-12-150
%X A population-based sample of adult cancer survivors diagnosed with one of the eight most incident cancers in Australia was recruited from two state-based cancer registries. Data for 1323 survivors were obtained by self-report questionnaire and linkage with cancer registry data. Unmet needs were assessed by the 34-item Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34). The data were examined using chi-square and multiple logistic regression analyses.A total of 444 (37%) survivors reported at least one ¡®moderate to high¡¯ level unmet need and 496 (42%) reported ¡®no need¡¯ for help. Moderate to high level unmet needs were most commonly reported in the psychological (25%) and physical aspects of daily living (20%) domains. The five most frequently endorsed items of moderate to high unmet need were concerns about the worries of those close to them (15%), fears about the cancer spreading (14%), not being able to do the things they used to do (13%), uncertainty about the future (13%) and lack of energy/tiredness (12%). Survivors¡¯ psychological characteristics were the strongest indicators of unmet need, particularly caseness for anxious preoccupation coping which was associated (OR£¿=£¿2.2-5.9) with unmet need for help across all domains.Unmet supportive care needs are prevalent among a subgroup of survivors transitioning from active treatment to survivorship, although lower than previously reported. In addition to coping support, valuable insight about how to prevent or address survivors¡¯ unmet needs could be gained by examining the substantial proportion of survivors who report no unmet needs.
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/12/150/abstract