Impact of patient-centered care on cancer beliefs and knowledge: a social cognitive theory application

Abstract

Effective communication can help patients cope with cancer, make informed decisions, and foster active engagement in cancer care settings. However, not having good communication can undermine relationships between health care providers and their patients, which may tragically impact health outcomes and perceptions. This paper investigates the impact of patient-centered cancer communication and demographics on patients’ cancer perception and knowledge from a social cognitive perspective. We used nationally representative survey data published in January 2021 (n=3865). We performed logistic regression analyses to model population groups differences. All estimates were weighted to be nationally representative; the Jackknife weighting method was used for parameter estimation. Personal factors and patient-centered cancer communication significantly impact cancer perception and knowledge. Involving patients in health-related decisions significantly affects their cancer perception and beliefs (OR=0.49, P=0.04). Some personal factors, including education (OR=0.59, P=0.0042), age (OR=0.34, P<0.001), and family cancer history (OR= 1.7, P=0.04), had a significant impact on cancer perception and knowledge. Cancer perception and expertise can be guided and corrected through a well-established patient-centered cancer communication approach that guides a patient through his health pathway and addresses the doubts from environmental and personal factors. There is a critical need for providers to retrace the limits of the adopted patient-centered approaches since involving patients in the decision made about their health care helps clear their confusion about cancer signs.