TY - JOUR
T1 - Illness understanding of oncology patients in a community-based cancer institute
AU - Sivendran, Shanthi
AU - Jenkins, Sarah
AU - Svetec, Sarah
AU - Horst, Michael
AU - Newport, Kristina
AU - Yost, Kathleen J.
AU - Yang, Manshu
N1 - Funding Information:
In December 2014, our institution was a field test site for a national study evaluating the CCCVI Field Survey sponsored by the National Patient Advocate Foundation and conducted by the American Institutes for Research and Mayo Clinic. The survey aims to assist health care providers in providing quality cancer care in line with patient preferences by surveying what patients find most valuable in delivery of their care and to what degree this was met during treatment. The final step of the development process was to survey 721 patients over four geographically diverse sites, including our institution. Our institution represented a large East Coast–based community cancer center. The CCCVI survey was mailed to patients directly from our site, with responses to the surveys being returned to the Mayo Clinic directly by the patients.13
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/9/1
Y1 - 2017/9/1
N2 - Purpose Several studies have demonstrated that patients have a poor understanding of prognosis, survival, and effectiveness of chemotherapy, particularly in the setting of advanced cancer. This study examines oncology patients' understanding of their illness based on accurate reporting of stage at diagnosis and knowledge of cancer status (ie, free of cancer or in remission v active disease). Materials and Methods Two hundred eight patients with cancer previously treated at our large community-based cancer institute participated in the Consumer-Based Cancer Care Value Index field survey. Electronic medical record documentation of stage at diagnosis and cancer status was compared with patients' self-reported responses. Concordance of responses and variables influencing discordance were evaluated. Results In 51.0% of patients, self-reported cancer stage matched the abstracted stage, with the highest concordance in patients with advanced cancer (72%) versus patients with stage I to III disease (36.4% to 61.5%). Unexpectedly, discordance was lower among patients with advanced cancer compared with patients with stage I to III cancer (P = .0528). Patients who were concordant for cancer stage at diagnosiswere significantlymore likely to be female (P = .001), be younger than age 65 years (P = .01), have an income.$60, 000 (P = .03), and have more education (P = .02). In 64.4% of patients, self-reported cancer status (ie, free of cancer or in remission v active disease) matched the abstracted status. Nearly 30% of patients were not sure about their status, even when they were free of cancer or in remission. Conclusion Our findings confirm that more than one quarter of patients with advanced cancer have poor illness understanding and highlight that an even greaternumberof patients with early stage I to III cancer have poor illness understanding. These observations highlight the need to improve illness understanding for patients across the entire cancer continuum.
AB - Purpose Several studies have demonstrated that patients have a poor understanding of prognosis, survival, and effectiveness of chemotherapy, particularly in the setting of advanced cancer. This study examines oncology patients' understanding of their illness based on accurate reporting of stage at diagnosis and knowledge of cancer status (ie, free of cancer or in remission v active disease). Materials and Methods Two hundred eight patients with cancer previously treated at our large community-based cancer institute participated in the Consumer-Based Cancer Care Value Index field survey. Electronic medical record documentation of stage at diagnosis and cancer status was compared with patients' self-reported responses. Concordance of responses and variables influencing discordance were evaluated. Results In 51.0% of patients, self-reported cancer stage matched the abstracted stage, with the highest concordance in patients with advanced cancer (72%) versus patients with stage I to III disease (36.4% to 61.5%). Unexpectedly, discordance was lower among patients with advanced cancer compared with patients with stage I to III cancer (P = .0528). Patients who were concordant for cancer stage at diagnosiswere significantlymore likely to be female (P = .001), be younger than age 65 years (P = .01), have an income.$60, 000 (P = .03), and have more education (P = .02). In 64.4% of patients, self-reported cancer status (ie, free of cancer or in remission v active disease) matched the abstracted status. Nearly 30% of patients were not sure about their status, even when they were free of cancer or in remission. Conclusion Our findings confirm that more than one quarter of patients with advanced cancer have poor illness understanding and highlight that an even greaternumberof patients with early stage I to III cancer have poor illness understanding. These observations highlight the need to improve illness understanding for patients across the entire cancer continuum.
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U2 - 10.1200/JOP.2017.020982
DO - 10.1200/JOP.2017.020982
M3 - Article
C2 - 28678589
AN - SCOPUS:85032438964
VL - 13
SP - e800-e808
JO - Journal of Oncology Practice
JF - Journal of Oncology Practice
SN - 1554-7477
IS - 9
ER -