Patients' perspectives on information from physicians during palliative chemotherapy: A qualitative study
2016 (English)In: Palliative & Supportive Care, ISSN 1478-9515, E-ISSN 1478-9523, Vol. 14, no 5, p. 495-502Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
OBJECTIVE:
During the course of their disease, patients with cancer receiving palliative chemotherapy receive extensive amounts of information from physicians. The objective of our study was to describe patients' perspectives on the information they received from physicians during palliative chemotherapy with regard to their cancer diagnosis, treatments, prognosis, and future planning.
METHOD:
A total of 15 semistructured face-to-face interviews with patients who had incurable cancer were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with qualitative content analysis.
RESULTS:
Three categories were defined during the analytical process: "having a chronic disease," "depending on chemotherapy," and "living with an unpredictable future."
SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS:
Our study demonstrated that patients undergoing palliative chemotherapy perceived that their disease was incurable and chronic, that they were dependent on chemotherapy, and that their future was uncertain. Compared with other studies, the patients in our study seemed to be more aware of their prognosis and the goals of care.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 14, no 5, p. 495-502
Keywords [en]
Cancer, Chemotherapy, Communication, Disclosure, Palliative care
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-26677DOI: 10.1017/S1478951515001200ISI: 000384433900008PubMedID: 26653583Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84949765158OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-26677DiVA, id: diva2:885640
2015-12-202015-12-202017-12-01Bibliographically approved