Patient-centered care and breast cancer survivors’ satisfaction with information

Abstract

Satisfaction with information is an important patient outcome and may be related to the physician's ability to elicit the patients’ concerns, to consider the patients’ psychosocial needs, and to involve patients in treatment decision making; these communication techniques have been described under the umbrella of “patient-centered.” The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between patient-centered care and satisfaction with information among women with a history of breast cancer. We administered a questionnaire to 182 women who had completed treatment for breast cancer. Our findings suggest that, while breast cancer survivors are highly satisfied with information related to treatment, they are less satisfied with information related to the long-term physical, psychological, and social sequelae of the disease and its treatments. In multivariate analysis, patients’ perception of patient-centered behaviors was strongly associated with patients’ satisfaction with information. These results provide support for the theory that patient satisfaction is improved when physicians incorporate patient-centered behaviors into their care.