Doctor-patient communication patterns in breast cancer adjuvant therapy discussions

OBJECTIVE: To identify variables within the patient-oncologist communication pattern that impact overall patient comprehension and satisfaction within the breast cancer adjuvant therapy (AT) setting. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Fifty patients were recruited from a number of academic and community-based oncology practices. Fifteen oncologists participated. MAIN VARIABLES: Three communication variables were identified: percentage of total utterances spoken by the patient, percentage of total physician utterances that were coded as affective (i.e. emotional), and total number of questions asked by the patient during the consultation. Knowledge and satisfaction were assessed by a variety of outcome measures, including knowledge items and satisfaction as measured by VASs, the satisfaction with decision scale and the decisional conflict scale. RESULTS: The level of patient knowledge about breast cancer and satisfaction with the clinical encounter showed a tendency to correlate with the variables measuring aspects of patient-physician communication style. Patients who spoke more or asked more questions tended to be more knowledgeable whilst patients whose physicians used more affective language tended to know less but to be more satisfied with their clinical encounter. CONCLUSIONS: In order to optimize patients' degree of comprehension and satisfaction with their breast cancer adjuvant therapy, physicians need to increase their affective participation in clinical encounters whilst encouraging patients to ask questions and to actively participate in the decision-making process.