BMJ 2000;321:632 ( 9 September )

Letters

Information needs of patients with cancer

    Patients are frightened and their information needs fluctuate
    Similar study had similar findings
    Patients' perspectives may vary
    Authors' reply

Patients are frightened and their information needs fluctuate

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITORI read the paper by Leydon et al on the information needs of patients with cancer¹ and comment both as a researcher with a particular interest in the provision of patient information and as a patient who received a diagnosis of cancer last year.

In addition to faith, hope, and charity, the patients' narratives illustrate the part fear plays in preventing patients with cancer from seeking information. The quotations in the paper echo many of my own fears, which at times prevented me from seeking information: one is frightened of finding out something bad (box 2, quote 4), one is frightened of jumping to the wrong conclusions through ignorance (box 1, quote 3) or lack of specific information about one's own condition (box 2, quote 2 and quote 6), and one is frightened of being labelled a "clever dick" (box 1, quote 4). It is important to differentiate between patients who do not . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

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Meeting the information needs of patients

Roger M Goss
bmj.com, 11 Sep 2000 [Full text]

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