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

Wilcock, Andrew; Hussain, Asmah; Maddocks, Matthew

Abstract

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 3–6 weeks of a diagnosis of thoracic cancer were invited to complete the SPARC© questionnaire.
Results: Over 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 [IQR] 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.

Citation

Wilcock, A., Hussain, A., & Maddocks, M. (2019). Holistic Needs of People with Thoracic Cancer Identified by the Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral to Care Questionnaire©. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 22(9), 1120-1123. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2018.0540

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 12, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Mar 8, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Feb 13, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 9, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Palliative Medicine
• Print ISSN: 1096-6218
• Electronic ISSN: 1557-7740
• Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1120-1123
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2018.0540
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1545590
• Publisher URL: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jpm.2018.0540
• Additional Information: Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2018.0540