Holistic needs assessment in brain cancer patients: A systematic review of available tools

This systematic review describes tools which could be considered for use for holistic needs assessment in Brain Cancer. MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PsycINFO were searched. Studies where included which met the following criteria; primary research published in English which reported the development, psychometric testing or clinical utility testing of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) for the assessment of adult brain cancer patients’ needs or generic cancer needs assessment tools developed specifically on a brain cancer or brain tumour population. PROMs were selected that identified unmet needs, concerns or problems. Nine articles describing four tools were identified. The tools were assessed using the COSMIN protocol for systematic reviews of measurement properties and their quality and usefulness as a holistic needs assessment tool. None of the four tools had strong psychometric properties, and the two that were developed for HNA had only minimal psychometric testing. The two PROMs which were symptom questionnaires had better psychometric properties but would need adapted to holistically assess the multiple domains of need. The lack of a tool, which adequately meets all requirements, supports the need to further explore how HNA can be performed in brain cancer patients to optimize this intervention.