Brief assessment of adult cancer patients' perceived needs: development and validation of the 34‐item Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS‐SF34)
Abstract
Objective This study aimed to develop and validate a short version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) that would reduce respondent burden and could be used in routine cancer care, without compromising the psychometric properties of the original instrument. Methods Secondary analyses of the data from two studies (n = 888 and 250) were undertaken. All 59 items of the original SCNS were assessed using psychometric analyses and evaluated for clinical utility. The 34 items retained were examined for internal consistency, ceiling and floor effects, known groups validity, convergent validity, sensitivity and readability. Results The 34‐item instrument has five factors (psychological, health system and information, physical and daily living, patient care and support, and sexuality needs) identical to the original instrument, explaining 73% of the variance. Internal consistency was high with Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the five factors ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Correlations of the 34‐item short‐form SCNS (SCNS‐SF34) with three other measures of psychosocial well‐being demonstrated convergent validity (r = 0.48–0.56). Kappa coefficients of at least 0.83 for each domain indicated almost perfect agreement between the 34‐item and 59‐item surveys to identify patients needing help. The 34‐item SCNS maintained the psychometric properties of the original instrument and could be readily comprehended by people with seventh to eighth grade education. Conclusions The SCNS‐SF34 is a valid instrument for measuring cancer patients' perceived needs across a range of domains, and could be utilized as part of routine cancer care.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The SCNS-SF29 total score ranges from 29 to 145, and higher scores indicate higher supportive care need.
“The SCNS-SF29 total score is ranging from 29 points to 145 points. Higher scores indicate a higher need for supportive care in that aspect.”
Cites
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1983.tb09716.x · Cited by 47,139 · see citing works
Aaronson, N. K., Ahmedzai, S., Bergman, B., Bullinger, M., Cull, A., Duez, N. J., Filiberti, A., Flechtner, H., Fleishman, S. B., Haes, J. C. J. M. D., et al. (1993) · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute · doi:10.1093/jnci/85.5.365 · Cited by 16,005 · see citing works
A step-by-step approach to using the SAS system for factor analysis and structural equation modeling
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-0366 · Cited by 3,357 · see citing works
The Analysis of Contingency Tables
Odoroff, C. L., & Everitt, B. A. (1978) · Technometrics · doi:10.2307/1268142 · Cited by 1,534 · see citing works
Using quality of life measures in the clinical setting
Higginson, I. J., & Carr, A. J. (2001) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7297.1297 · Cited by 982 · see citing works
Needs assessment for cancer patients and their families.
Wen, K., & Gustafson, D. H. (2004) · Health and Quality of Life Outcomes · doi:10.1186/1477-7525-2-11 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Perceived needs of women diagnosed with breast cancer: rural versus urban location
Girgis, A., Boyes, A., Sanson‐Fisher, R., & Burrows, S. (2000) · Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1111/j.1467-842x.2000.tb00137.x · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Self-citationMapping the quality of life and unmet needs of urban women with metastatic breast cancer
ARANDA, S., SCHOFIELD, P., WEIH, L., YATES, P., MILNE, D., FAULKNER, R., & VOUDOURIS, N. (2005) · European Journal of Cancer Care · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2354.2005.00541.x · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Smith, D. P., Supramaniam, R., King, M. T., Ward, J., Berry, M. P., & Armstrong, B. K. (2007) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.2006.09.8046 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Chemotherapy in patients with recurrent and progressive central neurocytoma
Brandes, A. A., Amist�, P., Gardiman, M. P., Volpin, L., Danieli, D., Guglielmi, B., Carollo, C., Pinna, G., Turazzi, S., & Monfardini, S. (2000) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(20000101)88:1 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Snyder, C. F., Dy, S. M., Sloan, D. H., Brahmer, J. R., Carducci, M. A., Wolff, A. C., & Wu, A. W. (2007) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-007-0223-1 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
The analysis of contingency tables
von Eye, A. (1990) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511629464.002 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Rapid screening for psychologic distress in men with prostate carcinoma
Roth, A. J., Kornblith, A. B., Batel-Copel, L., Peabody, E., Scher, H. I., & Holland, J. C. (1998) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19980515)82:10
The prevalence of psychological distress by cancer site
Zabora, J., BrintzenhofeSzoc, K., Curbow, B., Hooker, C., & Piantadosi, S. (2001) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/1099-1611(200101/02)10:1
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Screening for Distress and Unmet Needs in Patients With Cancer: Review and Recommendations
Carlson, L. E., Waller, A., & Mitchell, A. J. (2012) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.2011.39.5509 · Cited by 550 · see citing works
Fiszer, C., Dolbeault, S., Sultan, S., & Brédart, A. (2014) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.3432 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Maguire, R., McCann, L., Kotronoulas, G., Kearney, N., Ream, E., Armes, J., Patiraki, E., Furlong, E., Fox, P., Gaiger, A., et al. (2021) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.n1647 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Identifying the most prevalent unmet needs of cancer survivors in Australia: A systematic review
Lisy, K., Langdon, L., Piper, A., & Jefford, M. (2019) · Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1111/ajco.13176 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
van der Hout, A., van Uden-Kraan, C. F., Holtmaat, K., Jansen, F., Lissenberg-Witte, B. I., Nieuwenhuijzen, G. A. P., Hardillo, J. A., Baatenburg de Jong, R. J., Tiren-Verbeet, N. L., Sommeijer, D. W., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Oncology · doi:10.1016/s1470-2045(19)30675-8 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Hall, A. E., Boyes, A. W., Bowman, J., Walsh, R. A., James, E. L., & Girgis, A. (2012) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-011-1221-x · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Self-citationSarkar, S., Sautier, L., Schilling, G., Bokemeyer, C., Koch, U., & Mehnert, A. (2015) · Journal of Cancer Survivorship · doi:10.1007/s11764-015-0434-2 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Cheng, K. K. F., Darshini Devi, R., Wong, W. H., & Koh, C. (2014) · European Journal of Oncology Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2013.10.005 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Chambers, S. K., Ritterband, L. M., Thorndike, F., Nielsen, L., Aitken, J. F., Clutton, S., Scuffham, P. A., Youl, P., Morris, B., Baade, P. D., et al. (2018) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.8850 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
“Primary outcome measures included the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 [17], the Impact of Event Scale [18,19], and the Supportive Care Needs Survey Short Form 34 [20].”
MethodBody Image Concerns in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: A Longitudinal Study
Henry, M., Albert, J. G., Frenkiel, S., Hier, M., Zeitouni, A., Kost, K., Mlynarek, A., Black, M., MacDonald, C., Richardson, K., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816587 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Wu, V. S., Smith, A. B., & Girgis, A. (2022) · European Journal of Cancer Care · doi:10.1111/ecc.13269 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationHulbert‐Williams, N. J., Leslie, M., Hulbert‐Williams, L., Smith, E., Howells, L., & Pinato, D. J. (2021) · European Journal of Cancer Care · doi:10.1111/ecc.13442 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Legge, H., Toohey, K., Kavanagh, P. S., & Paterson, C. (2023) · Journal of Cancer Survivorship · doi:10.1007/s11764-022-01275-z · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“The primary outcome of this review was related to unmet supportive care needs (e.g. the Supportive Care Needs Survey [17]) and qualitative experiences, informed by the definition of supportive care [7] explicitly reported in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic (see Table 1).”
MethodAn Adaptation of the Short-Form Supportive Care Needs Survey Questionnaire (SCNS-SF 34) into Turkish
Ozbayir, T., Soyer Geckil, O., & Aslan, A. (2017) · European Journal of Breast Health · doi:10.5152/tjbh.2017.3266 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Mendes-Santos, C., Weiderpass, E., Santana, R., & Andersson, G. (2019) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2019.01.004 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Breast cancer patients' unmet support care needs will be assessed with the Supportive Care Needs Survey Questionnaire (SCNS-SF34) (Boyes et al., 2009).”
MethodInfluentialEbrahimabadi, M., Rafiei, F., & Nejat, N. (2021) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-021-06056-5 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Imai, F., Momino, K., Katsuki, F., Horikoshi, M., Furukawa, T. A., Kondo, N., Toyama, T., Yamaguchi, T., & Akechi, T. (2019) · Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1093/jjco/hyz005 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Pham, Q., Cafazzo, J. A., & Feifer, A. (2017) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.8051 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Yildiz Kabak, V., Atasavun Uysal, S., & Duger, T. (2021) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-020-05965-1 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
- Authors
- Boyes, A., Girgis, A., & Lecathelinais, C.
- Affiliations
- Hunter Medical Research Institute (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Boyes, Allison
- Venue
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-07-23
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 602-606
- ISSN
- 1356-1294 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2753
- OpenAlex
- W2122048099
- Cited by
- 530
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 5.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Hunter Medical Research Institute
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Education › Health Education and Validation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Keywords
- Supportive Care Needs Survey, short-form instrument, supportive care needs, cancer patients, psychometric validation, respondent burden, psychosocial well-being, patient needs assessment, routine cancer care
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, New South Wales, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cost of Illness, Needs Assessment
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
