Open AccessPatients’ Communication Preferences Around Cancer Symptom Reporting During Cancer Treatment: A Phenomenological Study
Author(s) -
Sharyn Carrasco
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the advanced practitioner in oncology (print)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2150-0886
pISSN - 2150-0878
DOI - 10.6004/jadpro.2021.12.4.2
Subject(s) - medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , distress , disease , cancer , qualitative research , medline , health care , patient experience , palliative care , family medicine , clinical psychology , nursing , social science , sociology , political science , law , economics , economic growth
The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to gain an in-depth understanding of cancer patients' experiences and perspectives on self-reporting their symptoms. Patients with cancer experience a wide variety of symptoms from both their disease and treatment, yet clinicians are often unaware of their patients' symptoms due to poor reporting methods. Poorly documented symptoms are more likely to go untreated, causing increased symptom distress and decreased quality of life for patients. Effective, real-time communication between patients and health-care practitioners is key to symptom assessment and management. Moreover, it is important for patients' communication preferences to be taken into account when developing symptom management plans.