2597 - Cancer patients’ expectations and understanding about their disease

Background

Cancer holds a huge psychosocial impact. Understanding the diagnosis and treatment gives cancer patients a feeling of autonomy and self-control. The patients’ perspective and expectations on the qualities of a medical oncologist are still poorly known.

Methods

Observational cross-sectional study of cancer patients observed in a Portuguese peripheral hospital in October 2018. When patients knew the primary tumour site, stage of disease and intent of treatment they were considered to have “Full knowledge”. Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis were performed, considering a CI of 95%.

Results

Seventy-two patients were included. Most were men (56.9%), with a median age of 60 years and 65.3% had an ECOG PS of 1. Patients reported feelings of shock (43.0%), sadness (38.9%), fear (34.7%) and courage (33.3%) when they became aware of their oncological diagnosis. About 12.5% of patients needed evaluation by Psychology/Psychiatry on the first 3 months after diagnosis, of which 2/3 had a history of depressive or anxiety disorders. The majority of patients (78%) received the diagnosis in a consultation, 12.5% in the emergency department with 4.2% being informed by their relatives (4.2%). About 90% of patients stated they knew their diagnosis while 5.6% were not sure. Correct identification of the primary tumour site occurred in 87% of patients and 81.9% knew the disease stage. Of those under treatment (n = 58), almost 20% did not understand its intention. About 54% of patients had "full knowledge" of the disease and treatments. There was no significant correlation between socio-demographic and clinical variables and "full knowledge" of the disease, and only age approached the significance level (p = 0.083). Patients mostly valued kindness (62.5%), honesty (55.6%) and knowledge (47.2%) in a medical oncologist.

Conclusions

Despite the majority of patients claiming to be aware of their disease, almost half did not understand the disease stage or treatment intention. Clear communication can contribute to a greater sense of knowledge, autonomy and adaptation to the disease, potentially influencing quality of life.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.