Holistic Needs of People with Thoracic Cancer Identified by the Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral to Care Questionnaire©.

Background

A holistic needs assessment is recommended in people with cancer at key stages, including soon after diagnosis. For people with thoracic cancer, there is a lack of data obtained routinely at this time point.

Objective

To identify the most common and/or distressing supportive and palliative needs present soon after diagnosis using a specifically developed questionnaire.

Methods

As part of a local rehabilitation service, patients within three to six weeks of a diagnosis of thoracic cancer were invited to complete the Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral to Care (SPARC©) questionnaire.

Results

For a 26-month period, 738 patients completed the questionnaire, representing about 70% of all patients diagnosed with thoracic cancer during this time. Respondents had a median [interquartile range] of 15 (11-21) symptoms or issues, with 2 (0-5), 4 (2-7), and 7 (5-11) causing "very much," "quite a bit," and "a little" distress or bother, respectively. The top five most frequent needs causing any degree of distress or bother were physical, present in 68%-80% of patients: feeling tired, shortness of breath, cough, feeling sleepy in the day, changes in weight. Two psychological issues followed: worrying about effects of the illness on others, feeling anxious, both present in 67%. Despite most patients reporting talking to health professionals about their condition, 20%-30% wanted further information.

Conclusions

These findings represent the largest cohort of patients with thoracic cancer completing the SPARC questionnaire soon after diagnosis, and provide detailed information on the high level of need that thoracic oncology services must be able to respond to.