An Examination of the Concrete Service Needs of Advanced Cancer Patients

What are the unmet supportive care needs of people with cancer? A systematic review

“…Practical assistance within the home such as cooking, shopping and cleaning were also regularly noted as areas where improvements could be made at the treatment and post-treatment stage. Predictors of unmet need were also variable; however, there does appear to be evidence to suggest that patients who are geographically isolated from health services and those lacking social support were more likely to have higher levels of unmet need [13,17,24,27,49,61,76]. This suggests that ongoing support when patients are not in direct contact with the health system or are living in the community, receiving treatment or are posttreatment are currently areas where supportive care is deficient.…”

“…Nine studies [2,14,26,35,49,53,59,60,73] identified in the review looked specifically at people with cancer who were in the palliative stages of their disease (Table 4). Needs varied and include those in the activities of daily living domain (1-52%), communication (34-36%), economic (13-60%), information (39%), physical(7-89%), psychosocial (7-44%), psychological (16-41%) and spiritual (14-33%) domains.…”

Ruminative Response Styles and Delay of Seeking Diagnosis for Breast Cancer Symptoms

“…A growing body of research is showing that emotional responses related to the discovery of symptoms (e.g., such as those that occur during breast self-examinations) are associated with delay of diagnosis seeking (Ajekigbe, 1991;MacFarlane & Sony, 1992;Mor, Guadagnoli, & Wool, 1987). In her review of the research literature, Facione (1993) discussed a variety of emotional responses related to symptom finding and presented a list of the different fears women tend to experience after the discovery of their symptoms, such as fear of death, fear of doctors and hospitals, fear of embarrassment, fear of disfigurement, and fear of chemotherapy.…”

Cumulative financial stress and strain in palliative radiation outpatients: The role of age and disability

“…Although objective levels of family financial stress due to the illness episode may impinge directly on access to care as well as upon the quality, intensity, and continuity of treatment [9], subjective perceptions of financial strain by patients and family caregivers may be more proximal causes of emotional strain and of the extent that patients and family will continue to seek out and comply with needed medical care and supportive services [10]. Perceptions of current, impending, and potential financial strain may result in delayed or missed medical appointments or neglect in meeting important needs (refilling important prescriptions, for instance) [11] which might have impacts on emotional strain, pain and symptomatology, prognosis, and mortality [12]. Subjective financial worries, for instance, may constitute a barrier to care beyond the barrier posed by the objective financial costs of that care [13].…”