Background
Cancer survivors have diverse concerns that require multidisciplinary support. A Cancer Survivorship Service (CSS) was established at Prince of Wales Hospital to provide multidisciplinary care to cancer survivors treated with curative intent. A needs assessment tool helped to identify patient concerns and inform service development.
Methods
A Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List (PL) was administered to all patients attending the CSS. We describe patient, cancer and treatment characteristics and analysed factors associated with higher DT scores and PL concerns.
Results
The study included 223 consenting patients attending the CSS between 06/2022–09/2024. Patients were predominantly female (91%) and had a median age of 55 years at time attendance (range 21-83 years). Most patients were born in Australia (53%) and spoke English at home (94%). The most common cancer diagnoses were breast (83%), colorectal (4%) and lymphoma (4%).
Median score on the DT was 5 (IQR 2-6) and patients had a median of 7 concerns on the Problem List (IQR 4-13). The common concerns were fatigue (57%), worry/anxiety (57%), sleep (57%), fear of cancer recurrence (48%), exercise and/or physical fitness (47%), memory/concentration (38%), and menopausal symptoms (37%).
Patients were more likely to have higher DT scores if they were born overseas (mean 4.7 vs 3.9, p=0.04). There was no significant difference in DT score according to gender, age at diagnosis, language spoken at home, or prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Prior chemotherapy was associated with more PL concerns (mean 9.7 vs 7.9, p=0.03). Number of PL concerns did not differ by gender, age at diagnosis, country of birth, radiotherapy use or language spoken at home.
Conclusions
DT scores and PL concerns at a newly established CSC are comparable to those reported at other Australian cancer survivorship services. Patient distress levels and survivorship needs appear to be influenced by country of birth and treatment type.