Psychological Distress and Concerns of In-Home Older People Living with Cancer and Their Impact on Supportive Care Needs: An Observational Survey

Sep 24, 2026

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Cancer patients often experience psychological problems after diagnosis, including emotional distress and social anxiety, which can increase demand for emotional and supportive care. This observational door-to-door screening study assessed how emotional distress and patient concerns influenced supportive care needs among 97 home-based cancer patients with an average age of 73.43 years. Findings showed priority treatment concerns, sex differences in psychological support needs, and higher concerns predicting increased supportive care needs, especially in specific cancer types, supporting targeted psychosocial care.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Psychological distress and supportive care needs

Unmet supportive care needs and associated factors

Article Psychological Distress and Concerns of In-Home Older People Living with Cancer and Their Impact on Supportive Care Needs: An Observational Survey Christos Kleisiaris 1, Maria Maniou 1, Savvato Karavasileiadou 2, Constantinos Togas 3, Theocharis Konstantinidis 1, Ioanna V. Papathanasiou 4, Konstantinos Tsaras 4, Wafa Hamad Almegewly 2, *, Emmanouil Androulakis 5 and Hanan Hamdan Alshehri 6 Citation: Kleisiaris, C.; Maniou, M.; Karavasileiadou, S.; Togas, C.; Konstantinidis, T.; Papathanasiou, I.V.; Tsaras, K.; Almegewly, W.H.; Androulakis, E.; Alshehri, H.H. Psychological Distress and Concerns of In-Home Older People Living with Cancer and Their Impact on Supportive Care Needs: An Observational Survey. Curr. Oncol. 2023, 30, 9569–9583 . [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)curroncol30110692 Received: 13 September 2023 Revised: 24 October 2023 Accepted: 26 October 2023 Published: 31 October 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71410 Heraklion, Greece; [kleisiaris@hmu.gr](kleisiaris@hmu.gr) (C.K.); [mariamaniou@hmu.gr](mariamaniou@hmu.gr) (M.M.); [harriskon@hmu.gr](harriskon@hmu.gr) (T.K.) 2 Department of Community Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia; [skaravasileiadou@pnu.edu.sa](skaravasileiadou@pnu.edu.sa) 3 Department of Social Service, Ministry of Public Order, 22100 Tripolis, Greece; [o2zcop@otenet.gr](o2zcop@otenet.gr) 4 Department of Nursing, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larissa, Greece; [iopapathanasiou@uth.gr](iopapathanasiou@uth.gr) (I.V.P.); [ktsa@uth.gr](ktsa@uth.gr) (K.T.) 5 Department of Statistics and Insurance Science, University of Piraeus, 18534 Piraeus, Greece; [mandroulakis@unipi.gr](mandroulakis@unipi.gr) [6](6 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing)[ Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing](6 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing), [College of Nursing](College of Nursing), [Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University](Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University), Riyadh 116711, Saudi Arabia; [hhalshehri@pnu.edu.sa](hhalshehri@pnu.edu.sa) * [Correspondence: whalmegewly@pnu.edu.sa](Correspondence: whalmegewly@pnu.edu.sa) Abstract: (1) Background: Cancer patients are experiencing psychological problems after diagnosis, such as emotional distress and social anxiety, which may increase their demands for emotional and supportive care. This study aimed to assess the inﬂuence of both emotional distress and concerns on the supportive care needs of cancer patients receiving home-based healthcare. (2) Methods: In this door-to-door screening program, 97 cancer patients were approached, with a mean age of 73 years old (mean = 73.43; SD = 6.60) . (3) Results: As expected, 42.3% of patients highlighted their treatment as their main psychological priority, with 20.6% identifying concerns about the future of their family in this regard. No signiﬁcant associations with respect to sex were identiﬁed in terms of focus, though females reported the need for more frequent psychological support (58.7% vs. 37.3%, respectively, p = 0.035) compared to males. Patients who had experienced an increased number of concerns during the last weeks (IRR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00–1.03, p = 0.007) had a signiﬁcantly greater risk of presenting an increased rate of supportive care needs. Notably, male patients with bone cancer presented asigniﬁcantly greater number of supportive care needs (mean rank 45.5 vs. 9.0, p = 0.031) respectively, in comparison to those with other types of cancer. (4

FAQs

What was the aim of the observational survey?

To assess how emotional distress and concerns influenced supportive care needs in cancer patients receiving home-based healthcare.

How was the study conducted and who participated?

A door-to-door screening program approached 97 cancer patients with a mean age of 73.43 years.

Which factors were associated with greater supportive care needs?

An increased number of concerns in the prior weeks was linked to a higher risk of increased supportive care needs, and specific cancer types (e.g., male bone cancer patients) showed higher supportive care needs.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Kurz