Quality of life in patients with endocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract: patient and staff perceptions.

Patient and staff perceptions regarding the importance of selected quality-of-life (QoL) aspects and patient ratings of their present QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30) were investigated. The study comprised 17 patients with endocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and their staff, paired in dyads. Both patients and staff rate physical aspects of life (e.g., "wash yourself, dress, eat, etc.," "have a good health," "not have pain") as most important for experiencing a good QoL. Staff considered work as more important for experiencing a good QoL than did patients. Patients rated their QoL as relatively good and were more satisfied with certain QoL aspects than staff perceived them to be. Staff did not accurately judge a certain patient's satisfaction with various QoL aspects, which suggests that there is room for staff to improve their understanding of these aspects. There were no significant mean value differences between patient and staff ratings of patient anxiety and depression, but no significant correlations within dyads. This suggests that the communication between patients and staff could be improved in this respect.