Supportive care needs of patients with cervical cancer in the northeast of Thailand

In this study, a descriptive design was used to explain the supportive care needs of cervical cancer patients in the Northeast of Thailand. The purposive sample was recruited from inpatient and outpatient departments of a university hospital. A total of 144 patients with cervical cancer in stage I - IV or recurrent stage completed the Thai version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey-Short Form 34 (SCNSF-34 Thai version). Descriptive statistics were used to identify the domains and items of the greatest unmet need. Results showed that standardized five domain scores indicated that participant’s unmet needs were highest in the health system and information domain (x= 2.95, S.D. = 1.15), and lowest in the sexuality domain (x= 1.63, S.D. = 0.94). The five most frequently endorsed items of moderate to high unmet need were all from the health system and information domain as follows: receiving information about things can do to help in recovering from illness (74.3%), receiving information from documents,charts, or paintings about illness management and side effects that may occur at home (66%), receiving information about cancer which is under control or in remission (63.2%), support from at least one health care staff that can discuss illness, treatment, and follow up (63.2%), receiving written information about the essential aspects of care (59.7%), and receiving written information about the importance of care (59.7%). It was clear that a large proportion of cervical cancer patients in Thailand reported unmet supportive care needs. Therefore, nurses should design nursing care services that are consistent with the supportive care needs.