Introduction
People affected by brain cancer have diverse and complex needs. As part of the Brain cancer Rehabilitation, Assessment, Interventions for survivorship Need (BRAINs) program, we are adapting an existing electronic screening portal to identify the needs of patients and caregivers across the brain cancer trajectory.
Aim
To identify and develop appropriate screening measures for use in the BRAINs portal to assess unmet needs. We aimed to: (1) explore the appropriateness of an existing unmet needs screening measure (i.e. SCNS-ST9) for use in brain cancer survivors; and, (2) develop a brief screening measure to assess the unmet needs of caregivers.
Methods
To address aim 1 secondary analyses were performed on data collected from 116 brain cancer survivors who completed a 34-item unmet needs survey (SCNS-SF34) at two time points; the SCNS-ST9 is a brief 9 item version of the SCNS-SF34. Data were analysed to determine the number of unmet needs missed by limiting screening to the SCNS-ST9.
To address aim 2 secondary analyses were performed on data collected from 188 caregivers who completed a 44-item unmet needs survey (SCNS-P&C). Psychometric analyses were performed to create a brief screening version of this measure.
Results
Analyses addressing aim 1 indicated only ≤11% of brain cancer survivors’ unmet needs were missed by the SCNS-ST9 across time points. Preliminary psychometric analyses addressing aim 2 indicate the caregiver measure could be shortened to ~8 items, assessing two domains: (1) psychological, emotional, work and social needs; and, (2) healthcare service and information needs.
Conclusion
Findings indicated the SCNS-ST9 missed ≤11% of unmet needs of brain cancer survivors, underscoring the potential for use of this instrument as a screening tool in clinical practice. The brief caregiver screening measure also shows promise for use in clinical care to identify caregiver’s unmet needs and trigger referral for support.