Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS)

Note: This is a completed initiative.

The Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS) was fielded in 2009 to identify perceptions, knowledge, and practices of primary care and oncology specialist physicians regarding post-treatment follow-up care of adult cancer survivors. This national survey provided unique data to inform care delivery experiences for both cancer survivors and their physicians.

Two distinct survey instruments were administered: one to 1,100 primary care physicians, and the other to 1,100 oncology specialists. The dual survey permitted comparisons of the perceived roles, knowledge, and practices of these two key provider groups with regard to follow-up survivorship care. Data from SPARCCS has been used to characterize barriers to the optimal care of cancer survivors and to explore and identify physician- and practice-level factors associated with physician knowledge, practices, and perceptions.

Survey Instruments

Please acknowledge the National Cancer Institute/American Cancer Society Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS) if you use either or both of these survey instruments in your research.

• Primary care physician survey (PDF)
• Oncologist survey (PDF)

Related Initiatives

NCI currently supports research to improve the delivery of survivorship care. This work includes the Improving the Management of symPtoms during And following Cancer Treatment (IMPACT) consortium, recent initiatives to advance research on the delivery of care to pediatric and AYA cancer survivors, and other activities and funding opportunities to advance survivorship research.