The Information Needs of New Radiotherapy Patients: How to Measure? Do They Want to Know Everything? And if Not, Why?
- Department of Quality and Process Innovation, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Department of Medical Psychology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Purpose: To establish 1) further psychometric properties of the information preference for radiotherapy patients scale (IPRP); 2) what information new radiotherapy patients want to receive; 3) which patients have a lower information need. Methods and Materials: Eligible patients (n = 159; response rate 54%) of 15 radiation oncologists completed the IPRP and provided background characteristics before their first radiotherapy consultation. Exclusion criteria were: age <18 years, having undergone radiotherapy before, unable to read and write Dutch, cognitive problems or a brain tumor. Results: Reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.84-0.97) and concurrent validity (r from .39 to .57, p < 0.001) of the subscales of the IPRP were good. New radiotherapy patients want extensive information about their disease, treatment, procedures, side effects, and prognosis (mean scores between 4.1 and 4.4 on a scale from 1 to 5) but less information about psychosocial issues (mean = 3.4). Patients who are older and male, have lung or rectal cancer, more difficulty understanding and a higher trait anxiety level, need less information. Conclusions: The IPRP can reliably and validly address information needs of patients undergoing radiation treatment. Most new radiotherapy patients want much information. Yet, information giving should be tailored according to their background, understanding and anxiety.
- OSTI ID:
- 22055973
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 1; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0360-3016
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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