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abstract
BACKGROUND
Cancer
survivors may continue to experience psychosocial and physical needs
related to their cancer experience for many years after treatment. The
specification of these needs across cancer types and by survivor
characteristics may lead to better prevention approaches and clinical
responses. Mixed methods were used to examine responses to an open-ended
question about current unmet needs from a survey of 2-, 5-, and 10-year
cancer survivors.
METHODS
Qualitative
techniques were used to code themes of unmet needs from open-ended
responses. These themes were then examined with quantitative techniques
to describe the frequency of unmet needs across disease subgroups and
demographic subgroups of survivors.
RESULTS
There
were 1514 responses to the open-ended question on unmet needs.
Respondents ranged in age from 24 to 97 years and included
proportionately more women, and 18% were minorities (black and
Hispanic). Sixteen themes of unmet needs were identified. The number and
type of unmet needs were not associated with the time since cancer
treatment. Breast cancer survivors identified more unmet needs than
other survivors. Male survivors and especially prostate cancer survivors
identified personal control problems as current needs. Older cancer
survivors identified fewer unmet needs on average than younger
survivors.
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