Background: Children with cancer and their families experience supportive care needs throughout diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. While growing research has explored supportive care needs among adolescents and young adults with cancer, the needs of younger children remain less well understood. Understanding unmet needs is particularly important in regional settings where access to specialist services and support may be more limited.
Aim: To explore (1) the unmet supportive care needs of children aged 15 years and younger with cancer and their parents within a regional paediatric oncology service; (2) multidisciplinary health and community service professionals’ perspectives of these needs.
Methods: An interpretive qualitative study was undertaken. Parents and healthcare providers participated in semi-structured interviews, while children completed either a semi-structured interview or body-mapping activity. Discussions explored supportive care experiences and unmet needs across the cancer continuum. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: Thirty participants (7 children aged 6-15 years, 12 parents, and 11 health and community service professionals) took part. Across participant groups, common unmet needs included information and communication, psychological and emotional support, coordinated care, and improved support during care transitions and in survivorship. Parents and professionals also identified unmet needs relating to health system capacity and access to allied health and supportive care services. Children highlighted the need for clear information about what to expect during treatment, explanations in language they could understand, more comfortable and engaging hospital environments, support to stay connected with school, friends and everyday activities, and help to cope with fear, worry and the ongoing impacts of cancer.
Conclusions: Younger children with cancer and their families experience substantial unmet supportive care needs. Findings highlight the importance of child-centered and developmentally responsive models of care. These findings may inform supportive care assessment, service development and future interventions for children receiving care in regional settings.