Supportive Care Needs of Iranian Cancer Survivors and Relationships with Social Support

Background: Assessment of supportive care needs of cancer survivors and identifying factors affecting suchneeds is important for implementation of any supportive care programs. So, the aims of present study were toinvestigate the supportive care needs of Iranian cancer survivors and relationships with social support. Materialsand
Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study two hundred and fifty cancer survivors participated viaconvenient sampling methods. The Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34) and Multidimensional Scaleof Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used for data collection. SPSS software was applied and univariateregression was used for examine relationships of supportive care needs with social support.
Results: Participantsdemonstrated many unmet supportive care needs, especially in health system and information and psychologicaldomains. In addition, participants reported that family members and significant others were their main source ofsupport. Also, social support has a significant correlation with all domains of supportive care needs.
Conclusions:There is an indispensable need for establishment of supportive care programs for Iranian cancer survivors. Inaddition, family members of family members of such survivors are an important resource to help develop suchprograms.