Communicatiebehoeften van patiënten met kanker bij aanvang van een behandeling met chemotherapie: een onderzoek naar de rol van curatief of palliatief behandeldoel, leeftijd en geslacht

AIM. The aim of this study is to identify differences in communication needs of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy with a curative treatment goal versus palliative treatment goal, older and younger patients and men and women.

METHOD. 345 Dutch cancer patients (aged 18-84 years) from 10 hospitals who recently started chemotherapy for the first time completed a questionnaire, existing of demographic and disease characteristics and the ‘QUOTEchemo- Importance’ (QUality Of communication Through the patients’ Eyes). The ‘QUOTEchemo-Importance’ contains 67 items and was developed to measure communication needs concerning a treatment with chemotherapy.

FINDINGS. Patients who receive chemotherapy with a curative treatment attach, at the beginning of the treatment, significantly more value to communication about ‘chemotherapy treatment’, ‘rehabilitation/coping with side-effects’, ‘tailored communication’, ‘emotional coping with the disease and the treatment’ (‘coping communication’) and ‘affective communication’ than patients who receive chemotherapy with a palliative treatment. Age and gender also appear to influence communication needs. Younger patients (age < 65 years) have more needs in the categories ‘rehabilitation information/coping with side-effects’ and ‘coping
communication’ than older patients (age > 65 years). Female patients report more communication needs in the categories ‘treatment chemotherapy’, ‘coping communication’ and ‘affective communication’ as compared to male patients. The differences are significant although relatively small.

CONCLUSION. The findings suggest that there are meaningful differences between patients receiving curative versus palliative treatment with regard to their communication needs. The differences can partly be attributed to differences in age and gender. Further investigation of curative and palliative patients’ communication needs is recommended, with special attention to the role of factors such as objective health status and life expectancy.