When considering the cancer journey for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, family support is often highlighted as a key factor for enhanced wellbeing and resilience. In the general population, families play an important role for the cancer patient by providing key support, and close family members often fill the role of informal carer when someone is diagnosed with cancer. Carers are usually the survivor’s main support person and assist with daily life, other family matters, and illness management responsibilities. However, carers rarely receive enough information, support, or training to fulfill this challenging role effectively and often experience a range of negative effects resulting from their caring role, including psychological burden, and poorer physical and mental health. These negative experiences may be amplified for those caring for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, as they also deal with concerns about racism and a lack of understanding of Aboriginal culture when engaging with the Australian healthcare system.
Needs assessment tools aiming to measure unmet needs of a cancer patient throughout their diagnosis are becoming more widely used. However, needs assessment tools have not been developed with caregivers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer survivors and have not explicitly focused on their unique support needs. This presentation will discuss the Indigenist methodology used for designing a culturally appropriate measurement tool for assessing the supportive care needs of carers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer patients. Implications for future use of this tool will be discussed, including assessing supportive care needs to increase the likelihood of offering and receiving interventions and services that respond early, appropriately, and effectively to address unmet needs within this population.