Development and Validation of an Adapted Tool to Measure Health-Related Social Needs for the Prostate Cancer Population in Nigeria

PURPOSEThe lack of culturally appropriate tools is a key obstacle to the identification of unmet social needs in the cancer population of Nigeria. To support sustainable strategies for social needs screening and intervention, this study aimed to develop and validate a health-related social needs scr...

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Main Authors: Musliu Adetola Tolani, Mudi Awaisu, Christian Agbo Agbo, Ayodeji Olawale Afolayan, Kabir Abdulkareem, Bernice Ofori, Sarah Sandlow, Dennis Li, Adam Murphy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025-05-01
Series:JCO Global Oncology
Online Access:https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/GO-24-00525
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Summary:PURPOSEThe lack of culturally appropriate tools is a key obstacle to the identification of unmet social needs in the cancer population of Nigeria. To support sustainable strategies for social needs screening and intervention, this study aimed to develop and validate a health-related social needs screening tool for the prostate cancer population in Nigeria.PATIENTS AND METHODSThe study was performed in three stages at three Nigerian tertiary hospitals: (1) instrument adaptation using the Health Leads social needs screening toolkit as the primary framework, which involved domain specification and question item prioritization through three rounds of Delphi surveys among 15 health care workers, 15 patients with prostate cancer, and 15 caregivers; (2) face validation among 10 patients with prostate cancer through cognitive interviews for feedback on format, language clarity, ease of answering, comprehensiveness and applicability, and then member checking to review and approve question modifications; and (3) pilot testing for reliability analysis and readability assessment among 30 patients with prostate cancer. Descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative analysis were performed.RESULTSDuring the first Delphi round, the highest three of the 10 top-ranking domains were financial resource strain (84%), sociodemographics (80%), and behavioral/mental health (80%). For single-question item prioritization, an agreement was reached in the employment, education, social isolation, and supports domains during the second round, and for the remaining domains during the third round. The format, clarity, ease of answering, and comprehensiveness of seven question items were modified, and two question items were substituted during face validation. The modified tool had a Cronbach's α of .67 and was considered appropriate for second-grade readers.CONCLUSIONTo our knowledge, this study developed the first screening tool with acceptable internal validity and understandability to assess social needs in the prostate cancer population of Nigeria.
ISSN:2687-8941