Abstract

RIBEIRO, Thais Gomes Pinto; SILVA, Taciana Maria da  and  SILVA, Nildienny Alves da. Breaking bad news: emotional repercussions in doctors at an oncological hospital in Recife-PE. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2020, vol.23, n.2, pp. 38-50. ISSN 1516-0858.

A cancer diagnosis can bring emotional repercussions to those who receive as well as those who communicate it. Breaking bad news is part of the routine in oncological medicine practice and many doctors face difficulties during this process. In this study we have aimed to understand how breaking bad news emotionally affects doctors who communicates them and apprehend their experienced feelings as well as difficulties faced in this process. The research has been of qualitative nature and was made in a referral oncological hospital. The sample was composed of seven surgeons from the mastology and head and neck outpatient clinics. We conducted semi-structured interviews with each of the participants, which were then analysed through the categorical content analysis method. We found four categories through the analysis: desire that the patient suffer less, the empathy towards patients, the mobilization related to the young patient, and the experience and the relation with communication. The results show that doctors want to reduce patient's suffering, experience sadness and anguish feelings with communication, feel empathy with cancer patients and also suffer from emotional distance in doctor-patient relationship. Studies that go deeper on feelings experienced by doctors are suggested as a proposal for further research.

Keywords : physician-patient relations; oncology; psychology.

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