What are the information needs of Chinese breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy?

Cancer patients demand information, not only to assist them to understand the disease and its treatment, but also to allow them to interpret the aversive events and action taken, so that the threat inherent from the diagnosis becomes lessened. With the goal of studying the information needs of women with breast cancer who were receiving chemotherapy, 51 patients were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire at the beginning and again at half way through their chemotherapy treatment. The results showed that for these patients the cancer and its spread, the side effects of chemotherapy and the management of the side effects were the priority information needs in the early stages and following chemotherapy. Among 52 questions, only six items were revealed to have significant difference when compared with the Time 1 and Time 2 measures. The results reflect that over time information needs for this group of patients was relatively stable. Marital status and subscale of disease was found significant difference at the first and second time points. The findings indicate that there is a need for the provision of a family-centered education program that addresses patient's information needs, cultural sensitivity, the use of building up and ongoing.