Information needs of cancer patients: a comparison of nurses' and patients' perceptions

This study aimed to identify nurses' and patients' perceptions and compare them in terms of the information needs of cancer patients. Another aim is to identify the association between the demographic and situational characteristics of patients'/nurses' and information needs. A total of 305 patients and 130 nurses participated in this descriptive and comparative study. Data was collected with a study-specific questionnaire developed for this study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Chi-square and RIDIT analyses were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that there was incongruence between patients' and nurses' perceptions regarding information provision (p < 0.05), both congruence regarding how much information was needed (eight out of 16 information items), but also significant incongruence on the remaining items(p < 0.05). The other finding was that patients residing out of Ankara city needed to obtain more information rather than the others. No relationship was found between demographic and situational characteristics and nurses' perceptions regarding information need of patients.