Prospective evaluation of unmet needs of rural and aboriginal cancer survivors in Northern British Columbia.
BACKGROUND
The unmet needs of cancer survivors in rural, remote, and aboriginal communities are largely unexplored. We explored potential differences between rural survivors (rss) in 4 general population (gp) and 4 First Nations (fn) communities.


METHODS
We approached 4 gp and 4 fn rs communities to participate in a mixed-methods project. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (hads) and the Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (suns) and provided demographic information. Each question on the suns can be scored from 0 to 4, with 0 representing "no unmet need" and 4 representing "very high unmet need." A directed approach to content analysis of focus group and interview data was used to triangulate the hads and suns results.


RESULTS
We prospectively accrued 23 fn rss and 56 gp rss for this study. More fn rss had borderline or abnormal anxiety (5% vs. 21%, p = 0.02). Compared with gp rss, fn rss had higher unmet needs scores in all categories: Information (2.29 vs. 0.8, p < 0.001), Work and Financial (1.66 vs. 0.5, p < 0.001), Access and Continuity of Health Care (1.83 vs. 0.44, p < 0.001), Coping and Sharing (2.22 vs. 0.62, p < 0.001), and Emotional (2.12 vs. 0.63, p < 0.001). The qualitative findings provided examples and insight into the unmet needs experienced by rss.


CONCLUSIONS
First Nations rss had significantly higher anxiety and unmet needs compared with their gp rs counterparts. In addition, different qualitative themes were identified in the groups. Our findings support the development of tailored approaches to survivorship for these populations.
BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North, Prince George, BC. ; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. ; University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC.
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Olson
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
F
F
Howard
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
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K
Turnbull
BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, BC.
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D
Munroe
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC.
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C
Zirul
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
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R
Manji
BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North, Prince George, BC.
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Tobin
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
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A
Ward
First Nations; Survivorship; aboriginal; remote; rural; unmet needs