Satisfaction with information and quality of life in patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. The role of individual differences in information preference.

Earlier studies have shown that patients are dissatisfied with the information they receive from doctors and nurses. The purpose of this study was to analyze satisfaction with information and quality of life in patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, considering the patient's information preference. Data were collected during interviews with 30 consecutive patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. The subject of the interviews was the satisfaction of patients with the information they received, and additional measures used were the Miller Behavioral Styles Scale and EORTC-QLQ-30. The results showed that 21 of 30 patients were satisfied with the information they received from health care. Married patients or cohabitants were satisfied more often than single patients. No significant differences in quality of life could be found between satisfied and dissatisfied patients. Regarding information preferences, the dissatisfied patients reported more information-avoiding behavior than those who were satisfied. The results must be interpreted cautiously because of the study's limitations, but one clinical implication can be stated: There is value in being aware of patients' information-seeking/avoiding behavior before starting to inform them.