Irene Ngune
Background: Treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC) may result in physical, social, and psychological needs that affect patients’ quality of life post-treatment. A comprehensive assessment should be conducted to identify these needs in CRC patients post treatment, however, there is a lack of tools and processes available in general practice. Aims: This study aimed to develop a patient-completed needs screening tool that identifies potentially unmet physical, psychological, and social needs in CRC and facilitates consultation with a general practitioner (GP) to address these needs.
Methods: The development of the self-assessment tool for patients (SATp) included a review of the literature; face and content validity with reference to an expert panel; psychometric testing including readability, internal consistency, and test– retest reliability; and usability in clinical practice.
Results: The SATp contains 25 questions. The tool had internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.70–0.97), readability (reading ease 82.5%), and test–retest reliability (kappa 0.689– 1.000). A total of 66 patients piloted the SATp. Participants were on average 69.2 (SD 9.9) years old and had a median follow-up period of 26.7 months. The SATp identified a total of 547 needs (median 7 needs/per patient; IQR [3–12.25]). Needs were categorised into social (175[32%]), psychological (175[32%]), and physical (197[36%]) domains.
Conclusion: SATp is a reliable self-assessment tool useful for identifying CRC patient needs. Further testing of this tool for validity and usability is underway.
