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Effect of advanced cancer patients’ awareness of disease status on treatment decisional conflicts and satisfaction during palliative chemotherapy: a Korean prospective cohort study

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Abstract

Purpose

Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of cancer patients’ awareness of their incurable disease status on decisional conflict and satisfaction with treatment choice.

Methods

In this prospective cohort study, advanced cancer patients who were offered palliative chemotherapy completed questionnaires on their knowledge of their condition, their treatment decision conflicts, and their satisfaction with their treatment decisions.

Results

We enrolled 98 patients; 94 reported that they were aware of their advanced status and 50 were not. Decisional conflicts for all patients showed a significant decrease after treatment, but aware patients were significantly more satisfied with their decision (P = 0.02).

Conclusion

Patients’ awareness of their incurable status was associated with greater satisfaction with their decision to receive palliative chemotherapy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Hyun Jin Lee, clinical research coordinator at Kyung Hee University Medical Center, and Hyung-Ok Choi, RN, MS, at Seoul National University Hospital, for their help with data collection and Dr. Miriam Bloom (SciWrite Biomedical Writing & Editing Services) for professional editing. This study was supported by grant from the Kyung Hee University in 2009 (KHU-20090601).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, 1 Hoegi dong, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 130-702, South Korea

    Sun Kyung Baek & Si-young Kim

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Dae Seog Heo

  3. Division of Cancer Control, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea

    Young Ho Yun & Myung Kyung Lee

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  1. Sun Kyung Baek
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  2. Si-young Kim
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  3. Dae Seog Heo
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Correspondence to Si-young Kim.

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Baek, S.K., Kim, Sy., Heo, D.S. et al. Effect of advanced cancer patients’ awareness of disease status on treatment decisional conflicts and satisfaction during palliative chemotherapy: a Korean prospective cohort study. Support Care Cancer 20, 1309–1316 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1218-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1218-5

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