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Decision‐making preferences and information needs among Greek breast cancer patients
Author(s) -
Almyroudi Augoustina,
Degner Lesley F.,
Paika Vassiliki,
Pavlidis Nicholaos,
Hyphantis Thomas
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.1798
Subject(s) - patient participation , delegate , breast cancer , medicine , paternalism , preference , information needs , test (biology) , family medicine , cancer , psychology , medline , paleontology , microeconomics , world wide web , political science , computer science , law , economics , biology , programming language
Objectives : We aimed at assessing Greek breast cancer patients' preferences for participation in treatment decision making and their information needs. Methods : In a cross‐sectional study, 329 breast cancer patients were administered at the Control Preferences Scale, a card‐sort measurement designed to elicit preferences for participation in decision making. Information needs were assessed with Cassileth's Information Styles Questionnaire. Results : The majority of patients (71.1%) preferred to play a passive role in treatment decision making, with most of them wanting to delegate responsibility of the decision completely to their doctor (45.3%). A collaborative role was preferred by 24%, whereas only 4.6% chose an active role. Most women expressed a general desire for as much information as possible about their illness (62.6%), but a substantial proportion (37.4%) did not want detailed information; instead, they wished to avoid awareness of bad news. Women who desired less informational details and preferred a passive role requested less frequently a mammography ( p <0.001) and/or Pap test ( p <0.0005) prediagnostically. Conclusions : This study's findings showed that the proportion of patients who wanted to play a passive role in decision making is the highest reported compared to similar studies from other countries, indicating the impact of the dominating paternalistic model of the doctor–patient relationship in the Greek medical encounter. The association of desired information details and decision‐making preferences with screening for cancer procedures prediagnostically highlights the significance of providing the patients with the appropriate information and the choices available for their treatment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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