Assessing the willingness of patients’ companions to disclose bad news to cancer patients

Arshia Zardoui; Mir Saeed Yekaninejad; Ali Kazemian; Mojtaba Parsa

doi:10.18502/jmehm.v15i3.9549

Arshia Zardoui Researcher, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mir Saeed Yekaninejad Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali Kazemian Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mojtaba Parsa Assistant Professor, Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Research Center for War-Affected People, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmehm.v15i3.9549

Keywords: Bad news; Autonomy, Patients’ rights, Cancer.

Abstract

Breaking bad news to patients is an essential aspect of the physician-patient relationship, but in Iran, this relationship is often disrupted by patients’ families. This study investigates the views of patients' companions on breaking cancer news. In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, we conducted research on 170 cancer patients’ companions and 170 non-cancer patients’ companions. We designed a questionnaire to investigate the subjects’ opinions and used CVI, CVR, Cronbach's alpha and ICC for evaluation. In order to compare groups, we used Mann- Whitney, Kruskal Wallis, Chi-square tests and Spearman’s correlation. Most participants believed that patients should be informed of their diagnosis. Cancer patients' companions were more willing to learn the bad news in case they were diagnosed with cancer and were less. likely to choose “despair” as the reason for non-disclosure (71% vs. 44%).There was no difference between the two groups in willingness to break the cancer news to patients, choosing who should be informed first, and the reasons for non- disclosure. Most participants believed the family should be the first to know the diagnosis. In this study, most participants believed that patients should be informed of their diagnosis. However, they preferred to learn about the diagnosis before the patient, which confirms the importance of educating the families about autonomy.