[The search for information. A calculated risk for cancer patients]

Even though their daily life seems to revolve around suffering, death and uncertainty, cancer patients try to cope with their situation and live life as best they can. Sylvie Bélanger, Head Nurse in the home medicine and care unit at the Cité de la Santé de Laval, and Louise Bouchard, full professor in the Nursing faculty of the Université de Montréal, were interested in better understanding cancer patients' search for information. Their qualitative research showed them that people suffering from cancer feel that there are risks involved in seeking information. The authors found that most of the cancer patients they met with wanted to obtain information allowing them to make it through their cancer and chemotherapy experience in as healthy a manner as possible. Yet this type of information seems hard to come by. Nurses must not hesitate to act in their role as information providers and offer cancer patients the facts they need, to help them view their situation more clearly and calmly.