This study is an important step toward evidence-based planning and management of problems which the growing survivor population requires assistance in managing.

BACKGROUND: A rigorous psychometric methodology was used to develop a measure of unmet needs for cancer survivors' principal support persons. Principal support person was defined as “someone you can count on and who helps you with your needs.” METHODS: Development of the domains and the items followed an extensive literature review, iterative input from support persons, and consultation with health professionals and front‐line staff working with cancer survivors and their supports. Cognitive interviews helped clarify item wording, and the draft questionnaire was reappraised by a group of support persons. The questionnaire was reduced to 90 items and sent to a stratified, random sample of cancer survivors selected from a provincial population‐based cancer registry. They were asked to give the survey to their support person. RESULTS: The resulting 78‐item Support Person Unmet Needs Survey has high acceptability, item test‐retest reliability, internal consistency (Chronbach alpha = .990), and face, content, and construct validity. It captures 6 domains of unmet needs and accounts for 73.5% of total variance: Information and Relationship Needs (27 items, 22.1% of variance), Emotional Needs (16 items, 15.2%), Personal Needs (14 items, 14.0%), Work and Finance (8 items, 8.8%), Health Care Access and Continuity (9 items, 8.6%), and Worries About Future (4 items, 4.8%). CONCLUSIONS: This instrument will be of use where there is an interest in examining the impact of cancer not only on cancer survivors but also on their identified principal support persons. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.

*With the increasing national and international popularity and exposure of Current Oncology, the queue of excellent submissions continues to lengthen. After substantial consideration, the journal's management has determined that the best way to manage this abundance is to move to a "hybrid" of combined print and electronic publication, with every e-manuscript being supported by a full print abstract and key words, and of course, indexing in PubMed for international recognition. E-JOURNAL LINKED ABSTRACTResearch on the factors that promote healing of the body through mind and spirit is at a very early stage. Reliance on experimental designs seems premature; we need much more exploratory research to identify relevant variables and useful therapeutic approaches before applying to them the same methods used to evaluate drugs. The Healing Journey is a program that has been in operation since 1982 at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. Observational data collection, followed by qualitative analysis has demonstrated benefits for many cancer patients. E-JOURNAL LINKED ABSTRACTAlmost since its inception, the Internet has been used by ordinary people to connect with peers and to exchange health-related information and support. With the rapid development of software applications deliberately designed to facilitate social interaction, a new era is dawning in which patients and their loved ones can collaboratively build knowledge related to coping with illness, while meeting their mutual supportive care needs in a timely way, regardless of location. In this article, we provide background information on the use of "one-to-one" (for example, e-mail), "one-to-many" (for example, e-mail lists), and "many-to-many" (for example, message boards and chat rooms, and more recently, applications associated with Web 2.0) computer-mediated communication to nurture health-related social networks and online supportive care. We also discuss research that has investigated the use of social networks by patients, highlight opportunities for health professionals in this area, and describe new advances that are fuelling this new era of collaboration in the management of cancer. E-JOURNAL LINKED ABSTRACTCancer can lead to spiritual transformation, which can be seen as a form of alchemy. During this process, patients, family members, and even professional caregivers can find themselves having spiritual experiences that go beyond any they had previously encountered. This paper provides qualitative descriptions of the "Field" or "Soul Wisdom" experienced by patients and caregivers.

This study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the short-form SUNS (SF-SUNS). Future studies should confirm the test-retest reliability and predictive validity of the SF-SUNS utilising large, independent, population-based samples of cancer survivors.

For the times studied, breast cancer does not appear to be associated with marital breakdown among Quebec women. Marital difficulties occurred mainly among the small proportion of women who probably already had marital difficulties when diagnosed.