Information needs of families of cancer patients: a literature review and recommendations.

This paper reviews evidence on the kinds of information needed by family members of cancer patients, discusses why families frequently lack needed information, and suggests strategies for meeting their information needs. Studies reviewed show that families' needs for information are substantial and that a large percentage of family members feel that these needs have not been adequately met by health care providers. This lack of needed information negatively affects the patient's care as well as the physical, psychological, and social well-being of family members. Strategies for addressing this problem include wider distribution of generic information about cancer and treatments to family members as well as developing standard professional procedures for making information about a patient's clinical condition available to family members.