A Critical Overview of the Construct of Supportive Care Need in the Cancer Literature: Definitions, Measures, Interventions and Future Directions for Research

Marco Miniotti (), Rossana Botto, Giovanna Soro, Alberto Olivero and Paolo Leombruni
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Marco Miniotti: ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Rossana Botto: ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Giovanna Soro: ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Alberto Olivero: ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Paolo Leombruni: ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: The growing amount of evidence about the role of supportive care in enhancing cancer patients’ outcomes has made healthcare providers more sensitive to the need for support that they experience during cancer’s trajectory. However, the lack of a consensus in the definition of supportive care and lack of uniformity in the theoretical paradigm and measurement tools for unmet needs does not allow for defined guidelines for evidence-based best practices that are universally accepted. Contemporary cancer literature confirms that patients continue to report high levels of unmet supportive care needs and documents the low effectiveness of most of the interventions proposed to date. The aim of this critical review is to consolidate the conceptual understanding of the need for supportive care, providing definitions, areas of expertise and a careful overview of the measurement tools and intervention proposals developed to date. The possible reasons why the currently developed interventions do not seem to be able to meet the needs, and the issues for future research were discussed.

Keywords: supportive care needs; cancer; psychosocial oncology; patient-reported outcomes; assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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