Content analysis of the reasons of non-disclosure of truthful information to cancer patients by their families

Abstract

Objective The purpose of the study was to clarify the reasons that may explain the families' non-disclosure of the truthful information to cancer patients in our medical background.Methods The study included 82 family members of cancer patients who was not told truthful diagnosis by convenience sampling.Data were analyzed by Bernard Berelson's content analysis.Results 13 categories and 7 themes were formulated,including avoiding,concerns,judgment,buffer,cognition,impact and endurance.The agreement rates were 75.2％ and 78.7％.Conclusions The families' non-disclosure of truthful information to cancer patients was a kind of avoiding behavior,the judgment of families impacted their attitude towards telling or not. Key words: Cancer, Non-disclosure; Families; Content analysis