Abstract
BackgroundBreast cancer has become one of the most frequently diagnosed carcinomas and the leading cause of cancer deaths. The substantial growth in the number of breast cancer patients has put great pressure on health services. Meanwhile, the information patients need has increased and become more complicated. Therefore, a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of their information needs is urgently needed to improve the quality of health care. However, previous studies related to the information needs of breast cancer patients have focused on different perspectives and have only contributed to individual results. A systematic review and synthesis of breast cancer patients’ information needs is critical.ObjectiveThis paper aims to systematically identify, evaluate, and synthesize existing primary qualitative research on the information needs of breast cancer patients.MethodsWeb of Science, EBSCO, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature were searched on February 12 and July 9, 2019, to collect relevant studies. A Google Scholar search, interpersonal network recommendations, and reference chaining were also conducted. Eligible studies included qualitative or mixed-methods studies focusing on the information needs (across the cancer continuum) of breast cancer patients or their social networks. Subsequently, a Critical Appraisals Skills Programme checklist was used to assess the quality of included research. The results, findings, and discussions were extracted. Data analysis was guided by the theory-generating meta-synthesis and grounded theory approach.ResultsThree themes, 19 categories, and 55 concepts emerged: (1) incentives (physical abnormality, inquiry from others, subjective norm, and problems during appointments); (2) types of information needs (prevention, etiology, diagnosis, clinical manifestation, treatment, prognosis, impact and resumption of normal life, scientific research, and social assistance); (3) moderating variables (attitudes, health literacy, demographic characteristics, disease status, as well as political and cultural environment). The studies revealed that the information needs of breast cancer patients were triggered by different incentives. Subsequently, the patients sought a variety of information among different stages of the cancer journey. Five types of variables were also found to moderate the formation of information needs.ConclusionsThis study contributes to a thorough model of information needs among breast cancer patients and provides practical suggestions for health and information professionals.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors worldwide [1]
This study aims to identify, evaluate, and synthesize existing primary qualitative research on the information needs of breast cancer patients and generate an integrated model to articulate their information needs across the cancer care continuum
In addition to the moderating variables described above, one study found that patients who had younger children often talked about the lack of personalized information for their kids [9]. They needed targeted information on how to guide their communication about breast cancer with their children because they had difficulty finding age-appropriate information [9]. This meta-synthesis strengthens our understanding of the formation and types of information needs of breast cancer patients
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors worldwide [1]. In 2018, around 2.1 million new female breast cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide, accounting for almost 25% of the cancer cases among women [1]. Several large-scale patient investigations have identified inadequate and inaccessible patient information [5] It is crucial and challenging for health service providers to systematically investigate patients’ information needs and offer relevant information. Previous studies related to the information needs of breast cancer patients have focused on different perspectives and have only contributed to individual results. Results: Three themes, 19 categories, and 55 concepts emerged: (1) incentives (physical abnormality, inquiry from others, subjective norm, and problems during appointments); (2) types of information needs (prevention, etiology, diagnosis, clinical manifestation, treatment, prognosis, impact and resumption of normal life, scientific research, and social assistance); (3) moderating variables (attitudes, health literacy, demographic characteristics, disease status, as well as political and cultural environment). Conclusions: This study contributes to a thorough model of information needs among breast cancer patients and provides practical suggestions for health and information professionals
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