The influence of “bad news” and “neutral/good news” on patients' perception of physician empathy during oncology consultations
Tranberg, Mattias LU
; Ekedahl, Henrik
LU
; Fürst, Carl Johan
LU
and Engellau, Jacob
LU
(2024)
In Cancer Medicine
13(1).
- Abstract
Objectives
Being met with empathy increases information sharing, treatment coherence, and helps patients to recover faster. However, we do not know how the content of the conversation about disease progression, new treatments, or other issues concerning serious illness affects patients' perceptions of the physician's empathy, and thus, the quality of the conversation. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients will rate their physician lower following a “bad news” consultation using the consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure.
Methods
A total of 186 outpatients from the Department of Oncology were recruited for this study. After meeting with a patient, the physician filled out a form,... (More)
Objectives
Being met with empathy increases information sharing, treatment coherence, and helps patients to recover faster. However, we do not know how the content of the conversation about disease progression, new treatments, or other issues concerning serious illness affects patients' perceptions of the physician's empathy, and thus, the quality of the conversation. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients will rate their physician lower following a “bad news” consultation using the consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure.
Methods
A total of 186 outpatients from the Department of Oncology were recruited for this study. After meeting with a patient, the physician filled out a form, placing the patient in either the “bad news” group, or the “neutral/good news” group along with information about the patient and the consultation. The patient was given the CARE measure after the visit.
Results
The patients who had received bad news rated their physicians a significantly lower score on the CARE measure, even though the effect size was small, than those who had neutral/good news. On average, bad news consultations were 11 min longer.
Conclusions
Physicians need to be aware of the patients' need to be known and understood, in addition to having skills to attend to emotional cues and concerns, since the current study's finding could be a sign either of the content being projected onto the physician or that the physician is focused on the message rather than on the patient.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6821af82-35c5-485d-8060-abb08d9c41b7
- author
- Tranberg, Mattias
LU
; Ekedahl, Henrik
LU
; Fürst, Carl Johan
LU
and Engellau, Jacob
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- bad news, CARE measure, empathy, oncology, patients, physicians
- in
- Cancer Medicine
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 1
- article number
- e6903
- pages
- 7 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:38164055
- scopus:85181193629
- ISSN
- 2045-7634
- DOI
- 10.1002/cam4.6903
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6821af82-35c5-485d-8060-abb08d9c41b7
- date added to LUP
- 2024-01-02 11:13:08
- date last changed
- 2024-02-13 10:31:58
@article{6821af82-35c5-485d-8060-abb08d9c41b7,
abstract = {{<br/>Objectives<br/><br/>Being met with empathy increases information sharing, treatment coherence, and helps patients to recover faster. However, we do not know how the content of the conversation about disease progression, new treatments, or other issues concerning serious illness affects patients' perceptions of the physician's empathy, and thus, the quality of the conversation. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients will rate their physician lower following a “bad news” consultation using the consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure.<br/>Methods<br/><br/>A total of 186 outpatients from the Department of Oncology were recruited for this study. After meeting with a patient, the physician filled out a form, placing the patient in either the “bad news” group, or the “neutral/good news” group along with information about the patient and the consultation. The patient was given the CARE measure after the visit.<br/>Results<br/><br/>The patients who had received bad news rated their physicians a significantly lower score on the CARE measure, even though the effect size was small, than those who had neutral/good news. On average, bad news consultations were 11 min longer.<br/>Conclusions<br/><br/>Physicians need to be aware of the patients' need to be known and understood, in addition to having skills to attend to emotional cues and concerns, since the current study's finding could be a sign either of the content being projected onto the physician or that the physician is focused on the message rather than on the patient.<br/>}},
author = {{Tranberg, Mattias and Ekedahl, Henrik and Fürst, Carl Johan and Engellau, Jacob}},
issn = {{2045-7634}},
keywords = {{bad news; CARE measure; empathy; oncology; patients; physicians}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Cancer Medicine}},
title = {{The influence of “bad news” and “neutral/good news” on patients' perception of physician empathy during oncology consultations}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cam4.6903}},
doi = {{10.1002/cam4.6903}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2024}},
}