Health information needs and preferences in relation to survivorship care plans of long-term cancer survivors in the American Cancer Society’s Study of Cancer Survivors-I

Survivorship care plans (scps) provide cancer patients and health care providers with a treatment summary and outline of recommended medical follow-up. few studies have investigated the information needs and preferred sources among long-term cancer survivors. cancer survivors of the ten most common cancers enrolled in the longitudinal study of cancer survivors-i (scs-i) completed a survey 9 years post-diagnosis (n = 3138); at time of diagnosis of the scs-i cohort, scps were not considered usual care. we assessed participants’ current desire and preferred sources for information across ten scp items and evaluated factors associated with information need 9 years after diagnosis. the proportion of long-term cancer survivors endorsing a need for cancer and health information 9 years post-diagnosis ranged from 43 % (cancer screening) to 9 % (consequences of cancer on ability to work). print media and personalized reading materials were the most preferred information sources. younger age, higher education, race other than non-hispanic white, later cancer stage, having breast cancer, having ≥2 comorbidities, and self-reporting poor health were associated with greater informational need (p < 0.05). long-term cancer survivors continue to report health information needs for most scp items and would prefer a print format; however, level of need differs by socio-demographic and cancer characteristics. cancer survivors who did not previously receive a scp still benefit from receiving scp content, and strategies for enabling dissemination to long-term survivors warrant further investigation.