Ertuna Levent, Bahcivan Ozan, Salduz Mehmet, Kim Youngmee
Department of Educational Measurement and Evaluation, Faculty of Education, Sakarya University, Hendek, 54300, Sakarya, Turkey.
Oz Psychological Consultancy (Oz Psikolojik Danışmanlık), Izmir, Turkey.
Support Care Cancer. 2025 Aug 13;33(9):782. doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09828-5.
Turkiye, a low-to-middle-income country with high cancer rates, faces challenges in providing adequate psycho-oncology services. This study aimed to identify Turkish health care professionals' (HCPs) perspectives on the unmet needs of their cancer patients to fulfil their needs through need-based treatment planning.
Turkish HPCs working in the cancer care field in Turkiye (n = 484) participated in the IPOS Survivorship Online Survey, which evaluates the perspectives of HCPs on their patients' concerns and unmet needs.
Participants were primarily young adults (40.7%) with a medical professional background (43.5%). Most were engaged in clinical work (35%) for 2-10 years. HCPs evaluated the unmet needs for medical care (73.8%) and managing emotional distress (71.4%) as the most common across all age groups, whereas sexuality/intimacy (15.9%) as the least common. Additionally, the needs for sexuality/intimacy (57.9%) and financial concerns (54.4%) were evaluated as the most unmet, whereas insomnia/sleep difficulties (26.3%) as the least unmet needs. According to HPC's evaluation, patients' unmet needs for spiritual concern, sexuality/intimacy, and personal care varied by patients' age groups (p < .05). The results were comparable across HCPs' gender and their disciplines.
Turkish cancer patients report greater unmet needs in sexuality/intimacy and finances compared to international peers, while needs related to spirituality, physical/cognitive function, insomnia, and social roles are less pronounced. Further investigation of healthcare professionals' workload and the types of services available for cancer patients will help modify healthcare policies to enable equitable quality cancer care in Turkiye and globally when providing care for the Turkish diaspora.
土耳其是一个癌症发病率较高的中低收入国家，在提供足够的心理肿瘤学服务方面面临挑战。本研究旨在确定土耳其医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）对其癌症患者未满足需求的看法，以便通过基于需求的治疗计划来满足这些需求。
在土耳其癌症护理领域工作的土耳其HPCs（n = 484）参与了IPOS生存在线调查，该调查评估了HCPs对其患者担忧和未满足需求的看法。
参与者主要是年轻成年人（40.7%），具有医学专业背景（43.5%）。大多数人从事临床工作（35%）2至10年。HCPs认为，在所有年龄组中，医疗护理（73.8%）和管理情绪困扰（71.4%）方面的未满足需求最为常见，而性/亲密关系（15.9%）方面的需求最不常见。此外，性/亲密关系（57.9%）和经济担忧（54.4%）方面的需求被认为是最未得到满足的，而失眠/睡眠困难（26.3%）方面的需求是最未得到满足的需求中最少的。根据HPC的评估，患者在精神关怀、性/亲密关系和个人护理方面未满足的需求因患者年龄组而异（p <.05）。结果在HCPs的性别和学科之间具有可比性。
与国际同行相比，土耳其癌症患者在性/亲密关系和经济方面的未满足需求更大，而与精神、身体/认知功能、失眠和社会角色相关的需求则不那么明显。进一步调查医疗保健专业人员的工作量以及为癌症患者提供的服务类型，将有助于修改医疗保健政策，以便在土耳其以及为土耳其侨民提供护理时在全球范围内实现公平的优质癌症护理。
