BMC Cancer 2009, 9:189 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/9/189 SCNS-P&C45: Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partners and Caregivers 45; PTGI: Posttraumatic Growth Inven- tory; AQol: Assessment of Quality of Life; MLM: Multi- level model; CEA: Cost effectiveness analysis; CUA: Cost utility analysis. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors' contributions SKC and JD developed the study concept, aims and initi- ated the project. AG, SO, SH, JT and RC assisted in the fur- ther in depth development of the protocol. SKC was responsible for the drafting of the manuscript. SKS, AG, SO, SH, JT will implement the protocol and oversee col- lection of the data. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgements This study was funded by Cancer Australia and beyondblue. SKC is sup- ported by an NHMRC Fellowship. 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