Adolescent cancer patient and physician responses to a questionnaire on patient concerns

In order to help physicians provide informational support to young patients with cancer, 63 adolescent cancer patients and 53 physicians completed self-administered questionnaires; 30 disease-related information items were included on the questionnaire. Although physicians and patients agreed on one-half of the items, they differed significantly on the others. Physician responses were not significantly related to the physicians' level of training, suggesting that education programs on this topic should be required at all levels of medical training. Psychiatrists may have a role to play in designing these programs.