A qualitative analysis on the awareness of surrogacy as an alternative parenting option for people diagnosed with cancer.

e24097 Background: ASCO guidelines recommend counseling about the impact of cancer treatment on fertility, preservation options, and referral to a reproductive specialist when indicated. However, other family-building options, such as surrogacy have not been specifically included in the guidance. Very little has been reported on counseling and use of surrogacy among people treated for cancer despite it being a viable option for parenthood in those with cancer-induced infertility. Objective: The Counseling and Use of Surrogacy Among Cancer Survivors (CUSACS) is aimed to be the first nationwide survey to examine the proportion of patients who received surrogacy information as part of fertility counseling at diagnosis, as well as interest and participation in surrogacy. As part of survey development, we conducted qualitative interviews and here, we report the thematic analysis from those conversations. Methods: We created an internet-based REDCap survey on fertility and surrogacy counseling and vetted it with four national cancer organizations: Young Survival Coalition (YSC), Cervivor, the Chick Mission, and For the Breast of Us. We conducted 17 survivor interviews from these organizations focusing on survey content, language, and usability. Authors analyzed interview transcripts separately and through consensus. Results: Three major themes emerged with representative quotes in Table 1: Identity, Self-sufficiency, and Regret. Iterative changes were made to the survey to incorporate feedback. Conclusions: Survivor interviews provided insight into important themes regarding fertility and surrogacy counseling. Our survey will be distributed through the partnering organizations and will be the first national survey to explore surrogacy counseling at cancer diagnosis. [Table: see text]