Cancer survivorship care for post-treatment cancer survivors in Japan: A secondary analysis of a multinational study across Asia-Pacific countries.

OBJECTIVE

The global understanding of cancer survivorship care leads to optimal care delivery for cancer survivors. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of Japanese oncology nurses regarding cancer survivorship care and explore the factors influencing the provision of survivorship care.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey of oncology nurses was conducted as part of a multinational, cross-sectional survey. A 29-item measurement scale with four subscales regarding survivorship care was used to assess nurses' perceptions regarding responsibility, confidence, and frequency of practice for cancer survivors. Additionally, we investigated a list of 16 factors influencing the provision of survivorship care.

RESULTS

Among 181 oncology nurses, the mean adjusted scores for survivorship care items were 65.6-84.7, 16.8-44.7, and 29.2-47.2 for responsibility, confidence, and frequency, respectively. Significant correlations were observed in the subscales for frequency of care with responsibility ( ​= ​0.315-0.385,  ​< ​0.001) and confidence ( ​= ​0.428-0.572,  ​< ​0.001). Participants with >10 years of experience in cancer care reported more frequent performance on surveillance than those with ≤ 5 years of experience ( ​= ​0.03). The major barriers for providing survivorship care by oncology nurses were lack of knowledge and skills (87.8%), lack of time (81.8%), and not seeing the value of survivorship care (79.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

Oncology nurses face many challenges regarding survivorship care, even though they recognize their responsibility. Educational support for oncology nurses is warranted to overcome impeding factors and improve confidence.