[A study comparing the perception of patients, nurses and doctors about the educational needs of cancer patients]

Because of the advances in the treatment of cancer, patients live longer and require more comprehensive information in order to understand their illness, treatment procedure and role in the health care process. Each treatment involves combined therapeutic approaches, so information must be presented to the patient in such a way as to promote maximum understanding and acceptance. The purposes of this study were to explore and compare patients', nurses' and doctors' perception of the educational needs of cancer patients and to identify areas of agreement and disagreement in the perception of these needs by patients, nurses and doctors. Three groups took part in the study; 78 cancer patients, 39 nurses and 35 doctors. They all were selected from one general teaching hospital. Data were collected using a questionnaire, developed by the investigators. The questionnaire was made up of 2 sections; an importance rating scale and a knowledge/providing information rating scale. Each rating scale consisted of 20 specific informational items that were elicited through interviews with 60 cancer patients. The data were analyzed using percentages, means, Pearson correlation coefficients, t-test, and ANOVA. The results of this study were as follows; 1. Nurse subjects achieved a higher total score (85.6154) on the rating of importance than did the patients (81.5238) or the doctors (79.3125). The difference between the three group's total score was significant (F = 6.164, p less than .01) and the difference between the nurses' total score and doctors' was also statistically significant (t = 3.95, p less than .001). 2. On the whole, the rankings for the mean score of importance for the 20 items differed among the three groups of subjects. For the patient subjects, the highest mean ratings were for "the symptoms of recurring illness", "progress of illness", and "plan and duration of treatment" showing these to be the items that they considered important. The nurse subject felt that it was most important for oncology patients to know about "plan and duration of treatment", "how to minimize problems with loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting", and "amount of activity the patient can do around the work setting". Doctors felt it was most important for the patient to know about "prognosis of illness", "progress of illness", and "plan and duration of treatment". "Plan and duration of treatment" was the common item that all three groups perceived as important for patient learning.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)