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66th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
Friendship Meeting with the Italian Society of Neurosurgery (SINch)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

7 - 10 June 2015, Karlsruhe

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Identification of supportive care needs in patients with high-grade gliomas using the SCNS-SF34-G questionnaire – “mission impossible”? Results of the prospective multicentric trial “ERASMUS” of 175 patients

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  • Mirjam Renovanz - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz, Mainz
  • Marlene Hechtner - Institut für medizinische Biometrie, Epidemiologie und Informatik, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Anne-Katrin Hickmann - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart
  • Susanne Singer - Institut für medizinische Biometrie, Epidemiologie und Informatik, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Jan Coburger - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universität Ulm, Standort Günzburg, Günzburg
  • Alf Giese - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz, Mainz

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 66. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Karlsruhe, 07.-10.06.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. DocMI.16.07

doi: 10.3205/15dgnc372, urn:nbn:de:0183-15dgnc3722

Published: June 2, 2015

© 2015 Renovanz et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Objective: Improving quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of therapy and care in patients with malignant gliomas involves assessment of psychosocial and supportive care needs. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of the German version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34-G) in patients with high-grade gliomas in an outpatient setting.

Method: In neuro-oncological outpatient departments of the three study centers 175 glioma patients were assessed using EORTC QLQ-C30 + BN20, Distress Thermometer (DT) and SCNS-SF34-G. The questionnaires were completed either with personal aid (group A) or by patients alone (group B). Socio-demographic data, tumor stage, KPS, and adjuvant therapies were documented. Feasibility to implement the questionnaires in clinical routine was tested by evaluating time needed to complete the questionnaire, percentage of missing values, errors in completion by comparing Groups A and B.

Results: The study included 175 patients, m:f ratio was 1.1:1. The 72 (41%) patients in group A needed an average of 25 min (range 10 to >50) for completion of all 3 surveys. Most of the patients (>90%) had no problems with completion of QLQ-C30+BN20 and DT, but 33% indicated misunderstood questions within SCNS. There was no evidence that personal aid influenced the results of DT (mean 4.6 ± 2.7 vs. 4.6 ± 2.8, p=0.88) and the EORTC-scores (e.g. C30, global health scale 62.3 ± 22.1 vs. 58.9 ± 23.3, pt=0.33). However, the proportion of incorrectly filled items in the SCNS questionnaires was slightly lower in group A than in group B (7 (10%) vs. 19 (20%), p=0.07) Tumor entity, stage of disease, socio-demographic factors were not associated with time needed for completion of the surveys. Interestingly, the proportion of patients who reported clinically relevant distress was higher among participants who incorrectly complete the SCNS compared to the group with correctly completed questionnaires (13 (50%) vs. 43 (31%), p=0.05), suggesting that patients with high psychosocial and supportive care needs may be missed by a survey using SCNS.

Conclusions: Early identification of supportive care needs in brain tumor patients is of high importance for treatment success. However, the SCNS-SF34 turned out to be not a suitable tool in glioma patients especially without personal aid, whereas the DT and EORTC were well implemented in clinical routine. Supportive care surveys specifically designed for needs and abilities of glioma patients are needed.