Gastrointestinal and Breast Cancer Survivor’s Unmet Needs During Survivorship Journey: A Reliability and Validity Study

Abstract

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Cancer Survivors Unmet Needs scale. Methods: Methodological study. Gastrointestinal and breast cancer survivors (n = 350) were included. Validity and reliability were assessed by content validity, discriminant validity, factor analysis, item-total correlation, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. Results: The most highly ranked unmet needs of survivors were changes to the body (42.0%), ongoing case manager (40.9%), and changes in the quality of life (37.1%). Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.95. In test–retest reliability, the correlation between unmet needs scores of 2 measurements was r = 0.81, and no statistically significant difference was found between the unmet needs scores of the 2 measurements’ mean ranks. Discriminant validity revealed a statistically significant negative correlation between total needs score and survival and age. In confirmatory factor analysis, model fit indexes were as follows: Chi-square / Degree of Freedom, CMIN / DF) = 2.6, root mean square error of approximation = 0.06, comparative fit index = 0.93, root mean residual = 0.04, incremental fit index = 0.93, and Tucker–Lewis index = 0.93. The model fit indexes were found very close to excellent fit values. Conclusion: Survivors have unmet needs for adaptation to changes in bodies and quality of life, throughout the survivorship journey. Cancer Survivors Unmet Needs—Turkish is a valid reliable tool for evaluating unmet needs among cancer survivors.