Different attitudes of oncology clinicians toward truth telling of different stages of cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate different attitudes of oncology clinicians toward whether and how to disclose diagnosis to patients with different stages of cancer.


METHODS
A questionnaire investigating physician's demographic information and attitude toward truth telling was delivered to 256 Chinese oncology clinicians.


RESULTS
Two hundred thirty-two (90.6%) physicians completed the questionnaire. Of these oncology clinicians, 87.5% reported that a patient with early-stage cancer should be informed of the diagnosis, while only 40.5% believed that a patient with terminal illness should know the truth (P<0.001). Physicians who preferred to tell the truth reported that patients with early or terminal stage of cancer should be informed by the doctor-in-charge (81.3 vs 77.7%, respectively; P>0.05), immediately after the diagnosis (83.7 vs 87.2%, respectively), and in a quiet and undisturbed room (63.5 vs 68.1%, respectively; P>0.05). In stepwise multiple logistic regression analyses, no demographic information showed association with truth telling of early-stage cancer. Women doctors [odds ratio (OR), 2.25; 95% CI, 1.31 to 3.89; P=0.004] were more likely than men to want the patient to be informed of the terminal illness. Physicians with cancer relatives (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.97; P=0.04) were less likely than physicians without cancer relatives to want the patient to be informed of the terminal illness.


CONCLUSIONS
Oncology clinicians differed in their attitudes toward truth telling of different stages of cancer. Physicians reported that the doctor-in-charge should be the ones to disclose the condition of the patient, immediately after the diagnosis, and in a quiet and undisturbed room.
Jiang
Yu
Y
State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Research Center, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
Li
Jun-ying
JY
Liu
Chang
C
Huang
Mei-juan
MJ
Zhou
Lin
L
Li
Mei
M
Zhao
Xia
X
Wei
Yu-quan
YQ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D000078329:Workforce