Unmet supportive care needs of Indonesian gynecological cancer survivors

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the unmet supportive care needs of gynecological cancer patients in Indonesia. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study using survey was used. We recruited 298 gynecological cancer survivors from three hospitals in different provinces in Indonesia, i.e., Soetomo Hospital in East Java; Sardjito Hospital in Yogyakarta; and Dharmais Cancer Hospital in Jakarta. Demographic and clinical characteristic and the Cancer Survivor Unmet Needs (CaSUN) questionnaires were given to measure supportive care needs (i.e. comprehensive care need, existential need, quality of life need, relationship need, and informational need). Descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, and mean were used to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics and unmet supportive care needs of participants. 98% of the survivors reported at least one supportive care need. The highest percentage of unmet supportive care need was an informational need (37.8%) followed by comprehensive care need (37.3%), quality of life need (36.1%), existential need (31.5%), and relationship need (23.9%). However, the highest mean of unmet needs was existential survivorship need 6.4 (5.7). Gynecological cancer survivors in Indonesia marked various unmet needs. Nurses should identify the supportive care needs of the women diagnosed with gynecological cancer early in cancer trajectory and also at the critical points of cancer care such as after including primary treatment.