A factor analysis of the informational concerns of adolescent cancer patients

To acquire insights into the number and nature of different underlying concerns that motivated individual adolescent cancer patients' responses to health information items previously studied by Levenson and associates, exploratory factor analysis methodology was employed. Ten major aspects of the content domain emerged as important information needs of individual cancer patients: physical appearance, current treatment concerns, nonspecific cancer information, future outlook, familial implications, communication, health behavior, near-term expectations, teenage identification, and use of medications. Most factors failed to consistently relate to patient age, sex, race or diagnosis. Discussion focuses on the implications and suggested application of outcomes.