Perception that oral anticancer treatments are less efficacious: development of a questionnaire to assess the possible prejudices of patients with cancer.
We developed and pilot tested a 12-item questionnaire, to approach the issue of patients' perception on efficacy of oral chemotherapy. An additional question was on 'trade-off' between treatment efficacy and the ease of oral administration. The motivating underlying hypothesis was that oral drugs might be perceived by patients as less effective than when drugs were delivered by injection. The questionnaire was given to 59 patients with advanced breast cancer who received oral chemotherapy. Ninety-percent of patients considered clear and completed the questionnaire. Oral chemotherapy was positively viewed by most patients, perceiving it as advantageous (58%), able to help them feel less ill (77%) and to reduce the effort in coping with the disease (67%). The most important feeling elicited was the sense of freedom. Younger patients (<45 years) required bigger effort to face their illness and expected the most from oral chemotherapy. The questionnaire was shown to be robust, reliable and reproducible instrument in assessing patients' prejudices towards oral anticancer treatments.
Catania
Chiara
C
Division of Medical Oncology, Day Hospital Unit & Unit of Psycho-oncology, Department of Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. chiara.catania@ieo.it
Didier
Florence
F
Leon
Maria Elena
ME
Sbanotto
Alberto
A
Mariani
Luigi
L
Nolè
Franco
F
Leida
Elena
E
Rocca
Andrea
A
De        Pas
Tommaso
T
Goldhirsch
Aron
A
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents