Abstract

BackgroundBreast cancer patients are confronted with a serious diagnosis that requires them to make important decisions throughout the journey of the disease. For these decisions to be made it is critical that the patients be well informed. Previous studies have been consistent in their findings that breast cancer patients have a high need for information on a wide range of topics. This paper investigates (1) how many patients feel they have unmet information needs after initial surgery, (2) whether the proportion of patients with unmet information needs varies between hospitals where they were treated and (3) whether differences between the hospitals account for some of these variation.MethodsData from 5,024 newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients treated in 111 breast center hospitals in Germany were analyzed and combined with data on hospital characteristics. Multilevel linear regression models were calculated taking into account hospital characteristics and adjusting for patient case mix.ResultsYounger patients, those receiving mastectomy, having statutory health insurance, not living with a partner and having a foreign native language report higher unmet information needs. The data demonstrate small between-hospital variation in unmet information needs. In hospitals that provide patient-specific information material and that offer health fairs as well as those that are non-teaching or have lower patient-volume, patients are less likely to report unmet information needs.ConclusionWe found differences in proportions of patients with unmet information needs between hospitals and that hospitals’ structure and process-related attributes of the hospitals were associated with these differences to some extent. Hospitals may contribute to reducing the patients’ information needs by means that are not necessarily resource-intensive.

Highlights

  • Breast cancer patients are confronted with a serious diagnosis that requires them to make important decisions

  • Data were collected from two sources: one was a postal survey of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients treated in German breast cancer center hospitals and the other a postal survey of hospital key informants in those breast cancer center hospitals

  • The four areas with highest unmet information needs were in relation to health promotion activities, physical and mental strains in daily life, rehabilitation services, and healthy lifestyles

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Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer patients are confronted with a serious diagnosis that requires them to make important decisions throughout the journey of the disease. For these decisions to be made it is critical that the patients be well informed. Breast cancer patients are confronted with a serious diagnosis that requires them to make important decisions. These decisions regard treatment and many aspects of everyday life and require patients to be informed of the advantages and disadvantages of different options. The task of providing the right information to each single patient in a way he or she understands clearly is a challenge for each health-care professional and for the treating hospitals

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