UNMET SUPPORTIVE CARE NEEDS AMONG BONE SARCOMA PATIENT IN SARAWAK
Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of unmet supportive care needs among bone sarcoma patients in Kuching, Sarawak and explored the relationship between these needs with various associated factors.
Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among all bone sarcoma patients recruited from Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching, Sarawak. Data collection was done using an adopted questionnaire via interview assisted survey. Unmet needs were assessed using the 59-item Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF59). Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: A total of 75 respondents participated in the study. The patients were mainly above 36 years (56%), Sarawak natives (33.3%) and married (54.7%). Majority of patients were not undergoing any active treatment (52%). Nine out of 10 items with highest ‘moderate’ to ‘high’ level unmet needs were from the domain of Health system and information. Needs from Physical and daily living, and sexuality domains were found to have statistically significant associations with ethnicity, age and marital status.
Conclusion: Patients who were diagnosed with bone sarcoma had substantive unmet supportive care needs in relation with their illness trajectory. It is important that such needs to be acknowledged in order to provide quality healthcare services to them.
Key words : bone sarcoma, unmet needs, Malaysia, SCNS-SF59,supportive care needs
References
Fisher RS, Girgis A, Boyes A, Bonesvski B, Burton L, Cook P. The Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Patients with Cancer. Cancer.2000; 88:226-37.
Hassan MR, Lim W (eds). The First Annual Report of the National Cancer Patient Registry-Colorectal Cancer, 2007-2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2010.
National Cancer Registry. Malaysian Cancer Statistics - Data And Figure Peninsular Malaysia 2006. Ministry of Health Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2006.
Solooki S,Vosoughi AR, Masoomi V. Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Tumours in Shiraz, South of Iran. Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol.2011;32(4): 187-91. doi:10.4103/097-5851.95138
van Dam MS, Kok GJ, Munneke M, Vogelaar FJ, Vliet Vlieland TPM, Taminiau AHM. Measuring physical activity in patients after surgery for a malignant tumour in the leg : The reliability and validity of a continuous ambulatory activity monitor. J Bone Joint Surg Br.2001;83(7):1015-9.
Boyes, A. W., Girgis, A., D’Este, C., Zucca, A. C. Prevalence and correlates of cancer survivors supportive care needs 6 months after diagnosis: a population – based cross- sectional study. BMC Cancer. 2012;12:150.doi:10.1186/1471-2407-12-150
Pigott C, Pollard A, Thomson K, Aranda S. Unmet needs in cancer patients:development of a supportive needs screening tool (SNST). Support Care Cancer. 2008;17:33-45. doi10.1007/s00520-008-0448-7
Adler NE, Ann EK. Cancer Care for the whole patient. Meeting Psychosocial Health Need. Committee on Psychosocial Service to Cancer Patient / Families in Community Setting (pg.23-24). Washington, DC. The National Academies Press. 2008.
Harrison JD, Young JM, Price A, Butow PN, Solomon MJ. What are the unmet supportive care needs of people with cancer? A systematic review. Support Care Cancer. 2009;17:1117 –28.
Kash KM, Mago R, Kunkel EJ. Psychosocial oncology : supportive care for the cancer patient. Semin Oncol. 2005;32(2):211-8.
Park BW, Hwang SY. Unmet Needs of Breast Cancer Patients Relatives to Survival Duration. Yonsei Med J. 2012;53(1):118-25.
Bonevski B, Fisher RS, Girgis A, Burton L, Cook P, Boyes A. Evaluation of an Instrument to Assess the Needs of Patients with Cancer. Cancer. 2000;88(1):217-24.
Cheah WL, Soh MH, Chang CT. Study on health-related quality of life among bone cancer patients. Austral - Asian J Cancer 2013; 12(2):115-21.
Grimer RJ, Carter SR, Spooner D, Sneath RS. Diagnosing musculoskeletal tumours. Sarcoma. 2001;5: 89
–94.
Hall AE, Boyes AW, Bowman J, Walsh RA, James EL, Girgis A. Young adult cancer survivors psychosocial well-being a cross-sectional assessing quality of life, unmet needs and health behaviours. Support Care Cancer. 2012;20(6):1333-41.
Keegan THM, Lichtensztajn DY, Kent EE, Wu XC, West MM, Hamilton AS, Zebrack B, Bellizzi KM, Smith AW. (2012). Unemet adolescent and young adult cancer survivors’ information and services needs: A population-based cancer registry study. J Cancer Surviv. 2012;6(3):239-50.
Park BW, Hwang SY. Unmet Needs of Breast Cancer Patients Relatives to Survival Duration. Yonsei Med J. 2012;53(1):118-25.
Armes J, Crowe M, Colbourne L, Morgan H, Murrells T, Oakley C. Patient supportive care needs beyond the end of cancer treatment: A prospective and longitunal survey. J Clin Oncol. 2009; 27(36): 6172-8.
Cohen J, Ezer T. Human rights in patient care : a theoretical and practical framework. Health and Human Rights 2013; 15(2). Available at : http://www.hhrjournal.org/2013/12/10/human-rights-in-patient-care-a-theoretical-and-practical-framework/. Accessed on 25 February 2015.
Balmer C. (2005). The information requirements of people with cancer: Where to go after the “patient information leaflet”? Cancer Nurs. 2005; 28(1):36–44.
Ream E, Quennell A, Fincham L, Faithfull S, Khoo V, Barnett JW, Richardson A. Supportive care needs of men living with prostate cancer in England: A survey. Br J Cancer. 2008;98(12):1903-9
Zebrack BJ. Psychological , Social and Behavioural Issues for Young Adults with Cancer. Cancer. 2011:2289-2294. doi10.1002/cncr.26056.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) right-of-first publication. In addition, the work will be simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. This license allows others to share the work in whole or part (for non-commercial purpose), with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in JCAS.
Furthermore, authors are free to enter into separate contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to share their work online or in medical or scientific conferences prior to or during submission process.