Abstract:
This descriptive correlational research aimed to study the supportive care needs and the relationships between selected factors, including age, marital status, education level, type of treatment, anxiety, symptom distress, and social support, with the supportive care needs of newly diagnosed persons with breast cancer. The sample consisted of 133 newly diagnosed persons with breast cancer receiving treatment at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and Police General Hospital. The sample was conveniently selected. The instruments used included personal information forms, Supportive care needs survey short form 34, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, The Symptom distress Scales, and Social support questionnaires. The content validity index were as follows: the Supportive care needs survey had a validity of 0.88, the Symptom distress scale had a validity of 0.8, and the Social support questionnaire had a validity of 0.9. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .96, .95, .85, and .82, respectively. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficients. The results revealed that 1. Newly diagnosed persons with breast cancer had a low level of supportive care needs (X = 2.39, SD = 0.78). When analyzed by aspect, the highest needs were in the health system and information, with moderate needs (X = 3.09, SD = 1.15), followed by patient care and support (X = 2.80, SD = 1.22). The lowest needs were in the sexuality (X = 1.60, SD = 0.74) 2. Anxiety and symptom distress were positively correlated with supportive care needs at a statistically significant level of .05 (r = .40, .41, and .45). In contrast, social support was negatively correlated with supportive care needs at a statistically significant level of .05 (r = -.18). Age, marital status, education level, and treatment did not correlate with supportive care needs.