Assessment of supportive care needs among cancer patients undergoing treatment: A cross-sectional study

Cancer diagnoses for any patient, immensely dismay his life; leading to the multiple upsets related to physical, mental, and general daily living aspects of his life. To help these patients, appropriate supportive care is essential. The modern oncology practice considers addressing supportive health care needs (SCN); as the keystone of management. This study has been undertaken to discern the supportive care needs of cancer patients in each of the domain.

This was an analytical cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey that was carried out among cancer patients. Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34); a validated brief questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program, version 16.0.

For Physical and daily living needs, scores ranged from 5 to 25 (15.93 ± 5.247). In the Psychological need's domain, scores ranged from 10 to 50 (32.50 ± 9.387). In the Health system and information needs domain, scores ranged from 13 to 55 (41.73 ± 9.590). For Patient care and support needs, scores ranged from 5 to 25 (18.64 ± 5.450). Overall, each domain of supportive care needs independently influenced the total percentage of supportive care needs reported by individuals, and all four domains together explained a significant portion of the variance in the total percentage of SCNs.

Cancer patients in our study population experienced many unmet SCNs. These findings may prove to be the baseline for providing more information to future studies on SCNs among cancer patients. SCNs of patients need to be known by their close family members and care providers so that they can offer intervention as per need.