The supportive care needs of women experiencing gynaecological cancer: a Western Australian cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundWomen diagnosed with gynaecological cancer experience supportive care needs that require care provision to reduce the impact on their lives. International evidence suggests supportive care needs of women with gynaecological cancer are not being met and provision of holistic care is a priority area for action. Knowledge on gynaecological cancer supportive care needs is limited, specifically comparison of needs and cancer gynaecological subtype.Our aim was to identify supportive care needs of Western Australian women experiencing gynaecological cancer, their satisfaction with help and explore associations between participant’s demographic characteristics and identified needs.MethodsA cross-sectional design incorporating a modified version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey – short form (SCNS-SF34) assessed 37 supportive care needs under five domains in conjunction with demographic data. Three hundred and forty three women with gynaecological cancer attending a tertiary public referral hospital completed the survey over 12 months. Statistical analysis was performed using the R environment for statistical computing. A linear regression model was fitted with factor scores for each domain and demographic characteristics as explanatory variables.ResultsThree hundred and three women (83%) identified at least one moderate or high level supportive care need. The five highest ranked needs were, ‘being informed about your test results as soon as feasible’ (54.8%), ‘fears about cancer spreading’ (53.7%), ‘being treated like a person not just another case’ (51.9%), ‘being informed about cancer which is under control or diminishing (that is, remission)’ (50.7%), and ‘being adequately informed about the benefits and side-effects of treatments before you choose to have them’ (49.9%). Eight of the top ten needs were from the ‘health system and information’ domain. Associations between supportive care items and demographic variables revealed ‘cancer type’, and ‘time since completion of treatment’ had no impact on level of perceived need for any domain.ConclusionsWestern Australian women with gynaecological cancer identified a high level of supportive care needs. The implementation of a supportive care screening tool is recommended to ensure needs are identified and care is patient-centred. Early identification and management of needs may help to reduce the burden on health system resources for managing ongoing needs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4812-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Gaining insight into the supportive care needs of women experiencing gynaecological cancer: A qualitative study

“…Eligible women were invited to participate in the larger prospective cohort study by completing a quantitative survey identifying their supportive care needs. Results from this study have been reported elsewhere (Williams et al, 2018). Eligible women had the additional option to participate in this qualitative study.…”

“…Unmet needs were prevalent in 24%–55.6% of women surveyed (Beesley et al, 2008; Harrison et al, 2009; Hodgkinson et al, 2007; Rowlands, Janda, McKinnon, Webb, & Beesley, 2015). A range of psychological, physical, and health system and information needs were identified as priorities for women (Beesley et al, 2008; Williams et al, 2018).…”

Perceptions of care after end-of-treatment among younger women with different gynecologic cancer diagnoses – a qualitative analysis of written responses submitted via a survey

“…The proportion of women reporting answers in this category varied between the different gynecologic cancer diagnoses with the highest frequency observed among women with ovarian cancer (80.7%). Results from a large survey of supportive care needs including 303 women with gynecologic cancer found no association between reported needs and type of cancer [ 27 ]. However, one recent review of supportive care needs in cancer found associations with sociodemographic (e.g., younger age, lower socioeconomic status, having no children) and clinical factors (e.g., more advanced disease, multiple cancer sites) that influenced the magnitude of unmet needs [ 28 ].…”

“…A desire for consistency and continuity in the health care organization was described in order to improve patients’ experiences of care [ 40 ]. Results from a recent Australian survey of supportive care needs found health service and information needs to be most prevalent, representing eight of the top ten reported supportive care needs, with the highest ranked need ‘being informed about your test results as soon as feasible’ [ 27 ].…”

Development and Psychometric Analysis of Supportive Care Needs scale for Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

“…Since its development, it has been widely accepted and referred to across numerous studies investigating unmet SCNs of patients with malignant and nonmalignant chronic diseases [23,24]. Evidence has indicated that early identi cation and management of SCN may help to refer patients to appropriate healthcare resources and reduce the burden on the health system [25,26]. Furthermore, researchers have also suggested that the SCNF should be revised in accordance with the characteristics of patients with a speci c disease [20,27].…”