.Over the last decades, there has been an increasing interest not only in patients’ beliefs about their illness, but also in their views about medication, and how these views might influence the way in which patients make decisions about treatment demand for prescriptions and adhere to medication. The study examined the association of the beliefs of patients with cancer about their cancer treatment with both the perception of their interaction with doctors and other psychological factors, including coping with cancer and emotional distress. As a part of a cross-sectional European study, 302 patients with cancer (mean age 53.3±9.6 years) undergoing chemotherapy were consecutively recruited at outpatient clinics and day hospitals of the departments of oncology in three European countries (Italy, Spain, Austria). Patients perceiving their physicians as supportive and honestly interested in the emotional implications of cancer were more likely to believe in the necessity of the medications (necessity), and less likely to be concerned about drugs (concerns), to believe in the possible harmfulness (harm) of the drugs, and to consider doctors as over prescribers of drugs (overuse). The patient’s tendency to adopt a pessimistic and despairing attitude (hopelessness) was related to both concerns about medications and a general perception of the medicines as harmful and overprescribed (overuse) by doctors. Patients who were anxious about their cancer condition (anxious preoccupation) had both concerns about drugs, but at the same time, they considered them necessary for treatment. Lastly, patients with higher levels of distress were more likely to be concerned about their medications. These findings seem to underscore the importance for oncologists to both consider patients’ satisfaction within the doctor– patient interaction, and patients’ distress and maladaptive coping, as variables influencing patients’ beliefs and representations of anticancer medications.
Beliefs about medicines, doctor-patient relationship, and coping among European patients with cancer
GRASSI, Luigi;CARUSO, Rosangela;SABATO, Silvana;MASSARENTI, Sara;NANNI, Maria Giulia
2017
Abstract
.Over the last decades, there has been an increasing interest not only in patients’ beliefs about their illness, but also in their views about medication, and how these views might influence the way in which patients make decisions about treatment demand for prescriptions and adhere to medication. The study examined the association of the beliefs of patients with cancer about their cancer treatment with both the perception of their interaction with doctors and other psychological factors, including coping with cancer and emotional distress. As a part of a cross-sectional European study, 302 patients with cancer (mean age 53.3±9.6 years) undergoing chemotherapy were consecutively recruited at outpatient clinics and day hospitals of the departments of oncology in three European countries (Italy, Spain, Austria). Patients perceiving their physicians as supportive and honestly interested in the emotional implications of cancer were more likely to believe in the necessity of the medications (necessity), and less likely to be concerned about drugs (concerns), to believe in the possible harmfulness (harm) of the drugs, and to consider doctors as over prescribers of drugs (overuse). The patient’s tendency to adopt a pessimistic and despairing attitude (hopelessness) was related to both concerns about medications and a general perception of the medicines as harmful and overprescribed (overuse) by doctors. Patients who were anxious about their cancer condition (anxious preoccupation) had both concerns about drugs, but at the same time, they considered them necessary for treatment. Lastly, patients with higher levels of distress were more likely to be concerned about their medications. These findings seem to underscore the importance for oncologists to both consider patients’ satisfaction within the doctor– patient interaction, and patients’ distress and maladaptive coping, as variables influencing patients’ beliefs and representations of anticancer medications.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
