Un-met Supportive Care Needs of Iranian Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: Assessment of supportive needs is the requirement to plan any supportive care program forcancer patients. There is no evidence about supportive care needs of Iranian breast cancer patients. So, the aimsof present study were to investigate this question and s predictive factors. Materials and
Methods: A descriptivecorrelationalstudy was conducted, followed by logistic regression analyses. The Supportive Care Needs Surveywas completed by 136 breast cancer patients residing in Iran following their initial treatment. This assessed needsin five domains: psychological, health system and information, physical and daily living, patient care and support,and sexuality.
Results: Patient perceived needs were highest in the health systems and information (71%), andphysical and daily living (68%) domains. Logistic regression modeling revealed that younger participants havemore un-met needs in all domains and those with more children reported fewer un-met needs in patient careand support domains. In addition, married women had more un-met supportive care needs related to sexuality.
Conclusions: The high rate of un-met supportive care needs in all domains suggests that supportive care servicesare desperately required for breast cancer patients in Iran. Moreover, services that address informational needsand physical and daily living needs ought to be the priority, with particular attention paid to younger women.Further research is clearly needed to fully understand supportive care needs in this cultural context.

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