Objective: Care for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is considered the most common unmet need among cancer survivors. Yet the prevalence of FCR and predisposing factors remain inconclusive. To support targeted care, we provide a comprehensive overview of the prevalence and severity of FCR among cancer survivors and patients, as measured using the short form of the validated Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI‐SF). We also report on associations between FCR and clinical and demographic characteristics.Methods: This is a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta‐analysis on the prevalence of FCR. In the review, we included all studies that used the FCRI‐SF with adult (≥18 years) cancer survivors and patients. Date of search: 7 February 2020. Risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool.Results: IPD were requested from 87 unique studies and provided for 46 studies comprising 11,226 participants from 13 countries. 9311 respondents were included for the main analyses. On the FCRI‐SF (range 0–36), 58.8% of respondents scored ≥13, 45.1% scored ≥16 and 19.2% scored ≥22. FCR decreased with age and women reported more FCR than men. FCR was found across cancer types and continents and for all time periods since cancer diagnosis.Conclusions: FCR affects a considerable number of cancer survivors and patients. It is therefore important that healthcare providers discuss this issue with their patients and provide treatment when needed. Further research is needed to investigate how best to prevent and treat FCR and to identify other factors associated with FCR.The protocol was prospectively registered (PROSPERO CRD42020142185).

INTERNATIONAL COLUMN: Supportive care needs in predicting the quality of life among gynecological cancer patients

Cervical cancer often leads to sexuality and intimacy concerns for the affected woman within a marital relationship.This study aimed to explore physical sexual concerns and their impact on the intimate partner relationships experienced by cervical cancer survivors. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, data were collected through in‐depth interviews with Indonesian women survivors of cervical cancer. Two themes and five sub‐themes were constructed from the thematic analysis. The first theme was the physical sexual concerns following cervical cancer treatment, with the subthemes: red spotting and massive vaginal discharge after having sexual intercourse; narrower, smaller and less lubricated vagina; pain during sexual intercourse; feeling of shortened vagina as if it had been cut. The second theme of impact of sexual concerns on intimate partner had five subthemes of: looking for reasons to refuse sexual intercourse; prejudice towards the spouse; feeling forced to fulfil husband's sexual needs; accepting spouse's anger; willingness to let the spouse marry another woman. The findings provide nurses with a greater understanding on how women adapt to their altered sexuality and intimacy with their partner following cancer treatments.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of sexual relationship after a nurse-led psychosexual intervention for Indonesian cervical cancer survivors and their husbands. Design: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted. Participants and methods: Sixteen cervical cancer survivors and their husbands who had participated in the nurse-led psychosocial intervention were invited for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: Four themes were identified: (1) lessening suffering; (2) supporting each other to regain sexual life (2a) finding reasons to do or undo sexual intercourse, (2 b) “How can I bring back my wife’s sexual desire?,” (2c) “Finally, I get to a climax;” (3) getting more intimate and caring about each other, and (4) “Now I’m getting more confident.” Cervical cancer survivors and their husbands experienced overall positive outcomes in their sexual and intimate relationship after a psychosexual intervention. Conclusions: The psychosexual intervention helped the survivors and their husbands adapt and manage sexual dysfunction following cancer treatment. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should initiate psychosexual care by assessing the concerns and needs of women diagnosed with cervical cancer, as an integral part of their care plan.

Objective: Coping and spiritual well-being are two important things in improving quality of life of patients with gynecological cancer. However, both of them are still neglected. Spiritual interventions are one of the alternatives in improving coping and spiritual well-being of patients with gynecological cancer. Right now, this intervention is not developed yet in Indonesia, especially about the effect on coping and spiritual well-being. This study aims at determining the effectiveness of spiritual intervention toward coping and spiritual well-being on patients with gynecological cancer. Methods: This was a quantitative research with quasi-experimental method and used a pre- and posttest with control design. The number of respondents in this study was 108 patients (54 patients in each group) and used consecutive sampling. The intervention group received spiritual intervention and the control group received usual care. Spiritual intervention was provided by certified oncology nurses of spiritual training. The instrument used for measuring coping is Brief COPE Scale and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Therapy (FACIT-Sp-12) for measuring spiritual well-being. Results: There was a positive change in the average scores of coping (P = 0.001) and spiritual well-being in the intervention group after receiving spiritual intervention (P = 0.006). The result of this research also shows that there was a significant difference in the average score of coping (P = 0.004) and spiritual well-being (P = 0.001) after spiritual intervention between intervention and control groups. Conclusions: This study shows that coping and spiritual well-being in the intervention group increased significantly after receiving spiritual intervention.