Developing a needs assessment questionnaire for women of reproductive age following breast cancer treatment: a cross-sectional pilot study in a Romanian sample.

PURPOSE

Studies addressing the needs of cancer patients highlight the necessity to identify what types of informational and support needs are specific to women of reproductive age after primary treatment for breast cancer. We developed a questionnaire for evaluating informational and treatment decision, psychological and socio-familial needs in young breast cancer patients following treatment.

METHODS

101 patients of reproductive age, treated for breast cancer at the Oncology Institute "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta", Cluj-Napoca, between 2006 and 2013 were included. They all had completed surgery, chemo-radiotherapy, and were receiving hormone therapy. The questionnaire named Breast Cancer following Treatment Needs Assessment Scale (BCTNAS) consisted of 21 6-point Likert items. The validation procedures used were: construct validity performed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA), reliability and internal consistency analysis using ordinal Cronbach's alpha (α) and ordinal Omega (ω) correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

According to EFA, the questionnaire evidenced four factors: needs concerning medical information and treatment decisions (PA1), needs for psycho-spiritual support (PA2), needs for socio-familial support (PA3), needs concerning medical support/assistance (PA4). The items of BCTNAS reported factor loadings (λi) greater than 0.40 for PA1 factor, λi ≥0.31 for PA2, λi ≥0.53 for PA3 and λi ≥0.33 for PA4, respectively. Reliability analysis demonstrated that BCTNAS is reliable: ordinal Cronbach's alpha of 0.81 (95% IC: 0.75-0.86) and ordinal omega of 0.85 (95% IC: 0.68-0.82) for the total scale score, with very good internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

The BCTNAS questionnaire provides a potential instrument to identify and assess the needs of breast cancer patients in the post-treatment period, having a positive impact on the quality of patient care.