1. What data in particular will be shared?
   Response - All of the individual participant data collected during the trial, after de-identification.
   


2. What additional supporting information will be shared?
   Response -  Study Protocol
   Response -  Statistical Analysis Plan
   Response - Informed Consent Form
   
   
3. Who will be able to view these files?
   Response - Researchers whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee identified for this purpose.
   


4. For what types of analyses will this data be available?
   Response - Any purpose.
   


5. By what mechanism will data be made available?
   Response - Proposals should be directed to [aanandini@gmail.com].
   


6. For how long will this data be available start date provided 01-05-2022 and end date provided 30-04-2023?
   Response - Immediately following publication. No end date.
   


7. Any URL or additional information regarding plan/policy for sharing IPD? 
   Additional Information - NIL

The primary goal of palliative care is alleviation of suffering; physical, psycho-social and spiritual. Serious health-related suffering (SHS) as defined by the Lancet Commission on Palliative Care and Pain Relief (2018) indicates suffering associated with a need for palliative care, and estimated the global burden using mortality data for 20 conditions, adjusted for the prevalence of both physical and psychosocial symptoms. The Global Atlas of Palliative Care 2nd Edition, 2020 maps and reports a very high burden of suffering in the LMICs (993 per 100,000) (World health organization- WHPCA). However, little has been done in assessment of suffering and capturing this in a holistic way. Cancer is one of the major contributors of Serious Health-related Suffering (SHR). The first active step to alleviate SHS is to screen cancer patients for this. NCG SHS Tool is envisaged as a screening tool to identify the major distresses in cancer patients who reach healthcare settings and help trigger appropriate care-responses to address them. The field test aims to pilot the NCG SHS Tool (annexure 1) to check the feasibility and validity. The NCG SHS screening tool will be administered to English speaking patients from the Medical Oncology Department (OP and IP settings). They will also be interviewed by a trained psychologist as a comparable standard. This will be done on a minimum of 256 participants across ten cancer-care centers in India. The feasibility, validity and usefulness of this NCG SHS tool will be studied. The assessor and respondent burden, right personnel and setting for administration of the tool and the training material and delivery to administer this tool will also be evaluated.

Annexure 1: NCG-SHS Tool for Field Testing - https://efficiency365.com/shs/