Informational needs assessment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivors and their physicians

Cancer Survivorship Care Plans (SCPs) are a recommended part of medical care for cancer survivors. We sought to identify the medical and psychosocial informational needs of non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivors and their physicians in cancer survivorship care to be included in SCPs. Questionnaires were mailed to eligible lymphoma survivors and their physicians, querying their preferences about informational needs in SCPs. The survivor cohort had a median age at diagnosis of 62, with 57% Female, 87% White, and 76% from North Carolina. The physician cohort was comprised of oncologists (27%) and nononcologists (73%), and 86% practiced in North Carolina. Greater than 60% of both survivors and physicians preferred an oncologist and primary care provider comanage cancer survivorship care. The most highly rated informational needs were medical issues, although there were differences between survivors and physicians for many of the informational needs queried. There was higher concordance between patient and physician responses for medical issues (63 to 100%) compared to psychosocial issues (25 to 63%). Important components of SCPs for lymphoma survivors and their physicians may go unrecognized. Tailoring SCPs to patient or physician users may better accommodate the differences in need for particular cancer survivorship care information.