title: Patients' informational needs while undergoing brachytherapy for cervical cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify informational needs of South African women receiving intracavitary brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer as part of a process to develop guidelines for quality patient-centred care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, qualitative study with a phenomenological approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Brachytherapy Unit, Department Oncology, Universitas Hospital, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Purposive sampling was utilized to recruit patients undergoing brachytherapy for cervical cancer from July to December 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted, guided by a theme list. Audio-recorded interviews were conducted in Sesotho, Afrikaans and English by an unaffiliated, multilingual interviewer. The interviews were transcribed, translated and thematic analysis performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data saturation was achieved having interviewed 28 participants, aged 30-73 years. Four themes with sub-themes were identified: (i) informational needs, (ii) patient disposition towards treatment, (iii) psychological experience and (iv) physical experience. Findings on patients' informational needs were the overarching theme and form the focus of this article. These informational needs included: providing patients with disease- and treatment-related information in their home language; adequate information concerning possible side-effects, sexual intercourse and pre-treatment preparation; and providing patients with informative material as standard procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The article has identified women's informational needs providing a focus for patient-centred care. Providing patients with sufficient and understandable information could lessen feelings of fear and anxiety towards treatment delivery. Guidelines with a patient-centred approach could thus be developed to be used as a tool to assist members of multidisciplinary teams in providing quality care to this group of women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Universitas Academic Hospital Complex, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa.
authors.forename: Deirdré
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa.
authors.forename: Hester Sophia
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Friedrich-Nel
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa.
authors.forename: Georgina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joubert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001918:Brachytherapy; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011446:Prospective Studies; D036301:Qualitative Research; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000532:radiotherapy*
keywords: brachytherapy; cervical cancer; informational needs; patient experience; phenomenology; qualitative study