title: Health behaviors and needs of melanoma survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about melanoma survivors' long-term symptoms, sun protection practices, and support needs from health providers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Melanoma survivors treated at Stanford Cancer Center from 1995 through 2011 were invited to complete a heath needs survey. We compared responses of survivors by sex, education, time since diagnosis (long-term vs. short-term survivors), and extent of treatment received (wide local excision (WLE) alone versus WLE plus additional surgical or medical treatment (WLE+)).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred sixty melanoma survivors (51 % male; 61 % long-term; 73 % WLE+) provided evaluable data. On average, patients were 62 years of age (SD = 14), highly educated (75 % college degree), and Caucasian (94 %). Overall, participants rated anxiety as the most prevalent symptom (34 %). Seventy percent reported that their health provider did not address their symptoms, and 53 % requested education about melanoma-specific issues. Following treatment, women spent significantly less time seeking a tan compared with men (p = 0.01), had more extremity swelling (p = 0.014), and expressed higher need for additional services (p = 0.03). Long-term survivors decreased their use of tanning beds (p = 0.03) and time spent seeking a tan (p = 0.002) and were less likely to receive skin screening every 3-6 months (p < 0.001) compared with short-term survivors. WLE+ survivors reported greater physical long-term effects than WLE survivors (p ≤ 0.001) following treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Melanoma survivors experience continuing symptoms long after treatment, namely anxiety, and they express a need for information about long-term melanoma effects, psychosocial support, and prevention of further skin cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Office 2318, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA, opalesh@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Oxana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Palesh
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aldridge-Gerry
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bugos
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pickham
authors.forename: Jie Jane
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Swetter
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*