Needs and Expectations of Long-term Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Abstract Cancer is an obvious social and world health issue. It is a social issue as its outreach affects not only mortality (it is the second cause of death in our environment) but also the costs due to morbility and distress it causes, as well as the losses and consequences in personal, family, work and even social areas. These issues require a multidisciplinary, complex approach. Luckily, more cancer patients get cured and there are more long-term cancer survivors every year. These survivors may require not well known health services, as the number of these patients has grown recently and their survival time is also longer. We are trying to find out the health needs of long-term cancer survivors and their perceptions and expectations of the care they received during their survival stage. To do so, we have designed a joint, cross-sectional descriptive study with a qualitative and quantitative approach. For the qualitative approach, we have used different focus groups representing different geographical areas of the Spanish territory. For the qualitative approach, we have used a validated questionnaire. The results obtained may offer a new perspective which could allow for a better planning of health services for these patients.