PONE-D-21-18301Nurse’s Perceptions of Support for Sexual and Reproductive Issues in Adolescents and Young Adults with CancerPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. 富岡,

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Please update references

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The subject of the article is interesting and quite innovative, it explores at the same time sexual, medical and reproductive issues together with cultural aspects.

Here are listed some aspects to ameliorate the manuscript:

- some references need to be updated; e.g., King L, Quinn GP, Vadaparampil ST, Gwede CK, Miree CA, Wilson C, et al. Oncology nurses’ perceptions of barriers to discussion of fertility preservation with patients with cancer. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2008; 12(3): 467-476.

- line 68: “The survey period was from June to August 2016” – Authors can clarify/explicit the the reason why the decided to delay the publication.

- lines 197-198: “The low effective response rate in this study was a combination of missing answers and the considerable number of nurses who answered “I don’t know,” indicating that nurses themselves are not sufficiently aware of the current situation”. This statement sounds as an inference or a personal authors’ deduction and needs better explanation.

- line 70 “measurements”: nurses’ perception investigation could have been more specific, using one or more standardized questionnaire in association with the four questions.

- a comparison with other researches would have been appreciated, even if there are few studies on this topic. It could be interesting a comparison with nurses’ perception of support for sexual and reproductive issues in a different age, or for a different medical problem, or related to other form of support.

Reviewer #2: This study meets the criteria for publication as it presents the results of primary scientific research and the results have not been published elsewhere. The statistical analyses are appropriate and described in detail. All ethical standards are met. The study adheres to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for data availability.

This articles does have grammatical errors. In addition, statements at times are written in a very definitive manner, when not appropriate. The authors would benefit from having someone with a more nuanced understanding of the English language review and correct the paper. Please see 2 examples below.

“In addition, cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, cause fertility and sexual dysfunction.” The more appropriate sentence would be “In addition, cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation, may cause fertility and sexual dysfunction.” Not all chemotherapy and radiation treatments cause problems with fertility and sexual dysfunction.

Another example- “Receiving a diagnosis and the subsequent treatment of cancer during this life stage inevitably disrupts their outlook regarding a promising future.” This statement is very definitive and assumes the future is not promising. While getting diagnosed and treated for cancer will cause some disruption in the life of AYA’s, their future can still be promising and some patients even report psychological benefits from the cancer experience. Perhaps a preferable way to phrase the statement- “Receiving a diagnosis and the subsequent treatment of cancer during this life stage inevitably disrupts their life outlook.”

These are just 2 examples found throughout the article. This reviewer suggests having the authors review for grammatical errors and correct. In addition, this reviewer suggests reviewing whether definitive statements have research data to back up the conclusions stated.

The organization of the “free descriptions” was confusing as there are too many codes and categories. The authors may want to consider a more succinct way of organizing and reporting the qualitative information.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Valentina Cosmi

Reviewer #2: No

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Nurse’s Perceptions of Support for Sexual and Reproductive Issues in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

PONE-D-21-18301R1

Dear Dr. 富岡,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Marta Panzeri, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: The suggested changes were made. The only additional change relates to the first sentence in the conclusions section. Please change the word "several" to "some."

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Valentina Cosmi

Reviewer #2: No