Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Aug 2011
The initial development of an instrument to assess the psychosocial needs and unmet needs of young people who have a parent with cancer: piloting the offspring cancer needs instrument (OCNI).
This study aimed to identify the psychosocial needs of young people (12-24 years) who have a parent with cancer and to assess whether these needs are being met. This paper also presented the initial steps in the development of a need-based measure-the Offspring Cancer Needs Instrument (OCNI). ⋯ Young people (aged 12-24 years) who have a parent with cancer report a complex array of needs, many of which go unmet. The preliminary findings reported may be used to inform service providers in the development and evaluation of need-based programs to redress these unmet needs and thus ameliorate the effects of parental cancer. Services addressing information and school-based interventions are particularly pertinent given these current results.