Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Determinants of Survivorship Care Plan Use in US Cancer Programs

  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 06 May 2014

Abstract

Cancer programs are increasingly required to use survivorship care plans (SCPs). Compliance with SCP use requirements will be evaluated at the cancer program level. Cancer program-level determinants of SCP use may suggest strategies for compliance. The objective of this study was to describe SCP use and identify its cancer program-level determinants. We surveyed employees knowledgeable about survivorship practices in cancer programs throughout the USA with a wide range of annual incident cancers, program types, and cancer care quality improvement organization memberships (81/100 response rate). We used descriptive statistics to describe SCP use and bivariate statistics to identify its cancer program-level determinants. Most respondents (56 %) reported that SCPs were not used. In programs reporting use, SCP use is restricted primarily to breast (82 %) and colorectal (55 %) cancer survivors, and few providers use SCPs. When developed, SCPs seldom reach survivors and their primary care providers. Most respondents (78 %) reported beginning to use SCPs because of requirements. Frequently cited barriers included insufficient resources (76 %), perceived difficulty using SCPs (29 %), and lack of advocacy for SCP use from influential people (24 %). SCP use was positively associated with academic program type (p = .009) and membership in the National Cancer Institute’s Community Cancer Centers Program (p = .009) and negatively associated with freestanding program type (p = .02). SCP use in the US cancer programs is highly inconsistent. Many cancer programs plan to implement SCPs to comply with SCP use requirements. Support specifically intended to facilitate SCP use may be more effective than non-specific resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Siegel R, DeSantis C, Virgo K, Stein K, Mariotto A, Smith T, Cooper D et al (2012) Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2012. CA Cancer J Clin. doi:10.3322/caac.21149

    Google Scholar 

  2. Institute of Medicine (2005) From cancer patient to cancer survivor: lost in transition. The National Academies, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cheung WY, Neville BA, Cameron DB, Cook EF, Earle CC (2009) Comparisons of patient and physician expectations for cancer survivorship care. J Clin Oncol. doi:10.1200/jco.2008.20.3232

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Nicolaije KA, Husson O, Ezendam NP, Vos MC, Kruitwagen RF, Lybeert ML, van de Poll-Franse LV (2012) Endometrial cancer survivors are unsatisfied with received information about diagnosis, treatment and follow-up: a study from the population-based PROFILES registry. Patient Educ Couns. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2012.05.002

  5. Mallinger JB, Griggs JJ, Shields CG (2005) Patient-centered care and breast cancer survivors’ satisfaction with information. Patient Educ Couns 57(3):342–349

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Husson O, Holterhues C, Mols F, Nijsten T, Van De Poll-Franse LV (2010) Melanoma survivors are dissatisfied with perceived information about their diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care. Br J Dermatol. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.09895.x

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Commission on Cancer (2013) Cancer program standards 2012, version 1.2: ensuring patient-centered care. In Standard 3.3: survivorship care plan

  8. National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (2013) Planning your care. www.canceradvocacy.org/resources/planning-your-care/. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  9. American Society of Clinical Oncology (2013) Quality & guidelines. http://www.asco.org/quality-guidelines. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  10. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2013) NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology (NCCN Guidelines): survivorship

  11. National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (2013) Survivorship and palliative care. http://ncccp.cancer.gov/about/reports-and-tools.htm. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  12. Dulko D, Pace CM, Dittus KL, Sprague BL, Pollack LA, Hawkins NA, Geller BM (2013) Barriers and facilitators to implementing cancer survivorship care plans. Oncol Nurs Forum 40(6):575–580

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Forsythe LP, Parry C, Alfano CM, Kent EE, Leach CR, Haggstrom DA, Ganz PA, Aziz N, Rowland JH (2013) Use of survivorship care plans in the United States: associations with survivorship care. J Natl Cancer Inst 105(20):1579–1587

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Hewitt M, Bamundo A, Day R (2007) Perspectives on post-treatment cancer care: qualitative research with survivors, nurses, and physicians. J Clin Oncol 25:2270–2273

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Sabatino SA, Thompson TD, Smith JL, Rowland JH, Forsythe LP, Pollack L, Hawkins NA (2013) Receipt of cancer treatment summaries and follow-up instructions among adult cancer survivors: results from a national survey. J Cancer Surviv. doi:10.1007/s11764-012-0242-x

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Merport A, Lemon S, Nyambose J, Prout M (2012) The use of cancer treatment summaries and care plans among Massachusetts physicians. Support Care Cancer 20(7):1579–1583. doi:10.1007/s00520-012-1458-z

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Birken SA, Mayer DK, Weiner BJ (2013) Survivorship care plans: prevalence and barriers to use. J Cancer Educ. doi:10.1007/s13187-013-0469-x

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Salz T, Oeffinger KC, McCabe MS, Layne TM, Bach PB (2012) Survivorship care plans in research and practice. CA Cancer J Clin 12(10):20142

    Google Scholar 

  19. Stricker CT, Jacobs LA, Risendal B, Jones A, Panzer S, Ganz PA, Syrjala KL et al (2011) Survivorship care planning after the institute of medicine recommendations: how are we faring? J Cancer Surviv 5(4):358–370

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Birken SA, Mayer DK, Weiner BJ (2014) Following through: the consistency of survivorship care plan use in United States cancer programs. J Cancer Educ. Feb 28 [Epub ahead of print]

  21. Commission on Cancer (2013) CoC membership. http://www.facs.org/cancer/coc/cocmembership.html. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  22. Association of Community Cancer Centers (2013) ACCC member cancer programs. http://accc-cancer.org/membership_directory/. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  23. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2013) http://www.nccn.org/. Accessed 3 Jan 2013

  24. American College of Surgeons (2013) American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs. http://www.facs.org/cancerprogram/. Accessed 23 Dec 2013

  25. Dillman DA (2009) Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  26. Weiner BJ, Lewis MA, Linnan LA (2009) Using organization theory to understand the determinants of effective implementation of worksite health promotion programs. Health Educ Res 24(2):292–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Rural Health Research Center (2013) http://depts.washington.edu/uwruca/ruca-about.php. Accessed 1 Sept 2013

  28. Chubak J, Tuzzio L, Hsu C, Alfano CM, Rabin BA, Hornbrook MC, Spegman A, Von Worley A, Williams A, Nekhlyudov L (2012) Providing care for cancer survivors in integrated health care delivery systems: practices, challenges, and research opportunities. J Oncol Pract. doi:10.1200/jop.2011.000312

    Google Scholar 

  29. Kirsch B (2012) Many US cancer survivors still lost in transition. Lancet 379:1865–1866

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Jabson JM, Bowen DJ (2013) Cancer treatment summaries and follow-up care instructions: which cancer survivors receive them? Cancer Causes Control. doi:10.1007/s10552-013-0163-7

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. NCI Community Cancer Centers Program progress reports and tools (2013) http://ncccp.cancer.gov/about/reports-and-tools.htm. Accessed 15 Sept 2013

  32. Mayer DK, Gerstel A, Leak AN, Smith SK (2012) Patient and provider preferences for survivorship care plans. J Oncol Pract 8(4):14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Salz T, McCabe MS, Onstad EE, Baxi SS, Deming RL, Franco RA, Glenn LA et al (2013) Survivorship care plans: is there buy-in from community oncology providers? Cancer 10(10):28472

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Dr. Birken’s effort was funded by grant number 5 R25 CA57726 from the National Cancer Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah A. Birken.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Birken, S.A., Deal, A.M., Mayer, D.K. et al. Determinants of Survivorship Care Plan Use in US Cancer Programs. J Canc Educ 29, 720–727 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0645-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0645-7

Keywords

Navigation