Increasingly, cancer patients are living many years after cancer treatment, with the number of US survivors expected to top 19 million by 2024. While many survivors do well after treatment, some experience continuing problems that can significantly impair their quality of life well beyond the magical 5-year survival milestone. These problems and challenges can vary by the type of cancer patients had and the treatments they received.
To assess the unmet needs of cancer survivors, Mary Ann Burg, PhD, LCSW, of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and her colleagues looked at the responses from an American Cancer Society survey, wherein 1514 cancer survivors responded to the open-ended question, 'Please tell us about any needs you have now as a cancer survivor that ARE NOT being met to your satisfaction.' "This study was unique in that it gave a very large sample of cancer survivors a real voice to express their needs and concerns," said Dr. Burg.
"Overall, we found that cancer survivors are often caught off guard by the lingering problems they experience after cancer treatment. In the wake of cancer, many survivors feel they have lost a sense of personal control, have reduced quality of life, and are frustrated that these problems are not sufficiently addressed within the medical care system," said Dr. Burg. She noted that improvements are needed concerning public awareness of cancer survivors' problems, honest professional communication about the side effects of cancer, and the coordination of medical care resources to help survivors and their families cope with their lingering challenges.
Burg et al. Current unmet needs of cancer survivors: Analysis of open-ended responses to the American Cancer Society Study of Cancer Survivors II. Cancer. 2015;EPub Ahead of Print [Abstract]