Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

The current study supports the utility and broad employability of the NEQ, thus providing empirical evidence that it is psychometrically sound and metrically equivalent across different groups of cancer patients. As such, the scale could be an effective tool when planning psychosocial interventions to improve the care process and patients' quality of life.