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

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, provi

SUBMITTER: Miniotti M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10887927 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature