The needs of patients with cancer and their caregivers in rural areas.

Purpose/objectives: To describe physical and psychological needs, rank their importance, and identify needs that were not met of patients with cancer and their caregivers living in rural settings.

Design: Exploratory descriptive.

Setting: Rural Vermont.

Sample: 30 patients with cancer and 30 caregivers.

Methods: Patients completed the self-administered. 104-item Patient Needs Scale; caregivers completed the self-administered, 90-item Caregiver Needs Scale. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of an item on a scale of 1-10 if they considered if a need. If a numbered item was scored, respondents identified whether the need was met.

Findings: The patient group identified 49% of scale items as needs; the caregiver group identified 41% of scale items as needs. Greater than 50% of the patient and caregiver respondents identified needs in areas of personal care. Involvement with health care, and interpersonal Interaction as very important. The patient group reported that 5% of identified needs were unmet, whereas the caregiver group reported that 14% of identified needs were unmet.

Conclusions: In rural settings, caregiver needs, while fewer in number, are not met three times more frequently than patient needs.

Implications For Nursing Practice: The needs identified by more than 50% of both groups should be included in assessment and care plans. The variability of patient and caregiver needs reinforces the importance of individual assessment and planning rather than making assumptions about needs. Future research may include identifying questions to elicit current needs and determining how often these questions should be asked to meet changing needs.