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Healthcare providers’ perceptions about the unmet needs of their patients with cancer across healthcare systems: results of the International Psycho-Oncology Society survivorship survey

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Supportive Care in Cancer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Systematic understanding of patients’ unmet needs is essential for providing effective supportive care. This study sought to compare the unmet needs of patients with cancer identified by health care providers (HCPs) among four major healthcare systems.

Methods

HCPs (n = 247) participated in the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) Survivorship Online Survey, evaluating their patients’ unmet needs. The country of HCPs was grouped into four major healthcare systems: Beveridge model, Bismarck model, National Health Insurance model, and out-of-pocket model.

Results

Most HCPs were from countries with the Bismarck model. Substantial levels (> 50%) of unmet needs in all domains are reported across the four healthcare systems. Pediatric patients/survivors living in countries under out-of-pocket healthcare model were evaluated to have less unmet needs for managing decline in physical or cognitive functioning and insomnia/sleep difficulty/fatigue, than those in countries under Beveridge, Bismarck, and National Health Insurance models. Moreover, middle-aged patients/survivors under Beveridge and National Health Insurance models were likely to have greater unmet needs for dealing with cancer-related financial concerns than those under Bismarck model.

Conclusion

This study provides valuable insights into the unmet needs of patients with cancer in different healthcare systems, highlighting the significance of targeted interventions to address the unique needs of patients across diverse healthcare systems. Further investigation is warranted to identify the system factors associated with patients’ unmet needs, enabling the development of effective healthcare policies and interventions to comprehensively address the multifaceted needs of patients with cancer.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of the paper are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The writing of this manuscript was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research (R01NR016838) to YK.

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Author notes

  1. Cristiane Decat Bergerot and Ashley Wei-Ting Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Supportive Care, Oncoclinicas, SMH/N Quadra 02, Ed de Clínicas, 12º Andar, Brasilia, DF, Brazil

    Cristiane Decat Bergerot

  2. Department of Psychology, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ashley Wei-Ting Wang

  3. Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV – IRCCS, Padua, Italy

    Samantha Serpentini & Caterina Borgese

  4. University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    Youngmee Kim

Authors
  1. Cristiane Decat Bergerot
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  2. Ashley Wei-Ting Wang
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  3. Samantha Serpentini
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  4. Caterina Borgese
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  5. Youngmee Kim
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Contributions

CDB, AWTW, SS, CB, YK: conception and design. CDB, AWTW, SS, CB, YK: drafting the manuscript review of the literature. CDB, AWTW, SS, CB, YK: critical revision of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristiane Decat Bergerot.

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Ethics approval

The survey content and procedure were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Miami, FL, USA and the IPOS research committee. This is not a human subject research and informed consent was not required.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bergerot, C.D., Wang, A.WT., Serpentini, S. et al. Healthcare providers’ perceptions about the unmet needs of their patients with cancer across healthcare systems: results of the International Psycho-Oncology Society survivorship survey. Support Care Cancer 31, 538 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-07998-8

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