Cancer survivors’ perspectives on the potential impact of a posttreatment survivorship care plan

Abstract

Background: Survivorship care plans (SCPs) for posttreatment cancer survivors are recommended by leading health organizations, yet many survivors are not receiving SCPs. This results in suboptimal survivorship care.

Objectives: To understand survivors’ perspectives on how having an SCP would have changed their survivorship experience and to provide insight into the potential of SCPs to meet survivor information needs.

Methods: In LIVESTRONG’s 2014-2015 Surveys of Cancer Survivors, we asked survivors who reported they had not received an SCP to comment on how an SCP might have changed their posttreatment experience. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of respondents’ (n = 158) open-ended responses.

Results: Respondents who did not receive an SCP felt they would have benefited from receiving a care plan. Emerging themes suggest that an SCP would have improved emotional experience (n = 54), increased knowledge of what to expect (eg, long-term side effects) (n = 56), or improved their quality of care and their health following treatment completion (n = 20). A subset of respondents (n = 23) indicated they were unsure how an SCP would have changed their experience, if at all.