Originally developed for oncology by Marcello Tamburini and colleagues, the NEQ has gradually evolved into a family of instruments for assessing unmet needs. Its different versions preserve the fundamental principle of the NEQ—giving people a direct voice in expressing their perceived needs—while adapting it to different populations and clinical settings and, with the NEQ-OP, to healthcare professionals.
NEQ – Needs Evaluation Questionnaire | 23 Items – Oncology
This is the original version of the NEQ, developed by Marcello Tamburini and colleagues to identify unmet needs among patients with cancer, initially in hospital settings. It is a self-administered questionnaire comprising 23 items with YES/NO responses, covering informational needs, assistance and care needs, relational needs, psycho-emotional needs, and material needs. Each affirmative response identifies a specific need that may be relevant to the patient’s care.
Reference: Tamburini M, Gangeri L, Brunelli C, Boeri P, Borreani C, Bosisio M, Fusco Karmann C, Greco M, Miccinesi G, Murru L, Trimigno P. Cancer patients’ needs during hospitalisation: a quantitative and qualitative study. BMC Cancer. 2003;3:12. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-3-12.
Download the Italian version of the 23-item NEQ, validated for use with hospitalised patients with cancer:
Download NEQ-23 – Italian version
See the Guide to Scoring and Interpreting the Questionnaire.
Download the English version of the 23-item NEQ for use with hospitalised patients with cancer, developed through a standard cross-cultural adaptation process (Chiesi, 2017):
Download NEQ-23 – English version
NEQ-OutP – Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Cancer Outpatients | 27 Items – Outpatient Oncology
This extended version of the NEQ was developed for patients with cancer receiving care without an inpatient admission, including those attending day hospital services, outpatient clinics, follow-up appointments, and rehabilitation programmes. The original 23 items were supplemented with four additional items addressing needs particularly relevant to outpatient care, bringing the questionnaire to 27 items. This 27-item version also provided the basis for subsequent adaptations of the NEQ to other clinical settings.
Reference: Bonacchi A, Miccinesi G, Galli S, Primi C, Chiesi F, Lippi D, Muraca M, Toccafondi A. Use of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire with cancer outpatients. Support Care Cancer. 2016 Mar 23.
Download the Italian version of the 27-item NEQ-OutP for patients with cancer receiving care in day hospital, outpatient, follow-up, and rehabilitation settings:
Download NEQ-OutP – Italian version
Download the English version of the 27-item NEQ for patients with cancer receiving care in day hospital, outpatient, follow-up, and rehabilitation settings, developed through a standard cross-cultural adaptation process (Chiesi, 2017):
Download NEQ-OutP – English version
NEQ-LD – Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Liver Disease | 29 Items – Hepatology
This version was developed to assess unmet needs among people with chronic liver disease. It includes the 27 items used in outpatient oncology, together with two hepatology-specific items addressing disease transmission and information about health-promoting behaviours and lifestyles, for a total of 29 YES/NO items. The validation study supports its use in patients with different chronic liver diseases and indicates broadly equivalent measurement functioning across sex, age, and the presence or absence of cirrhosis.
Reference: Bonacchi A, Chiesi F, Marunic G, Campani C, Gitto S, Lau C, Tagliaferro C, Forte P, Tarocchi M, Marra F. Needs evaluation questionnaire for liver disease: a novel assessment of unmet needs in patients with chronic liver disease. Hepatol Commun. 2023 Jan 27;7(2). doi:10.1097/HC9.0000000000000007. eCollection 2023 Feb 1. PMID: 36706170.
NEQ-CP – Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Chronic Pain | 21 Items – Chronic Pain
This version was specifically developed and validated for people with chronic non-cancer pain. Its development began with the 27-item NEQ for cancer outpatients, with items modified and supplemented to reflect the specific experience of living with chronic pain. Subsequent psychometric and item response theory (IRT) analyses led to the selection of a final 21-item version. It retains the dichotomous YES/NO response format to allow rapid identification of needs and is not organised into formally validated subscales.
Reference: Francesca Chiesi, Costanza Gori, Caterina Primi, Carlotta Tagliaferro, Michael Tenti, Andrea Bonacchi. Assessing Unmet Needs of Patients With Chronic Pain: The Development and Validation of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Chronic Pain. Pain Res Manag. 2026;2026(1). doi:10.1155/prm/6906748.
NEQ-OP – Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Oncology Professionals | Oncology Professionals
This version extends needs assessment from patients to professionals working in oncology, including physicians, nurses, healthcare support workers, technicians, and psychologists. Inspired by the original NEQ, it assesses the extent to which needs related to working life and the care relationship are met. The validation process identified a psychometric structure comprising four dimensions, with good evidence of reliability and validity. The instrument can help identify areas for intervention to support professionals’ well-being and, indirectly, improve the quality of cancer care.
Reference: Chiesi F, Marunic G, Chioni A, Caligiani L, Belloni L, Giuli M, Miccinesi G, Bonacchi A. Assessing needs at the workplace: The development of a questionnaire for oncology professionals. Measurement and Evaluations in Cancer Care. 2025;3:100010. doi:10.1016/j.ymecc.2024.100010.
