Abstract

SALES, Cibele Alves Chapadeiro de Castro  and  ASSUNCAO, Eliza Leonel. Quality and source of information given to patients with breast câncer. Temas psicol. [online]. 2001, vol.9, n.2, pp. 113-124. ISSN 1413-389X.

The information given to patients with câncer is considered insuffícient by health staff and by the patients themselves, especially because the latter has taken a more active role on treatment decision making. The present study explored the quality and source of information that fífty women with breast câncer had and would like to have about their disease and treatment, using a semi-structured interview. The majority of the women had information about the length of their treatment, and knew the reason to come to the hospital, the treatments they had made and possessed knowledge of at least one exam. People were the most frequent and preferred source of information. Half of the patients were satisfied with the information they had. The other half wanted information about disease metastasis, breast reconstruction, treatment side effects, among others. The quantity of information retrieved seems to be related to age, educational levei and number of treatments.

Keywords : information; breast câncer; treatment.

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