The Greek Cancer Patient’s Knowledge and Attitudes toward His Diagnosis and Prognosis

Abstract

One hundred and sixteen cancer patients were interviewed in order to investigate whether the Greek cancer patient wants to be informed and whether he knows his true diagnosis and prognosis of his illness. A semistructured interview was used and also a number of psychological parameters were assessed. Though only 15.5% of the patients named their real diagnosis, according to the interviewer’s assessment 53% were strongly suspicious of their real diagnosis and 55 % suspected their real prognosis. Furthermore, 49 % when asked directly answered that they wanted to know if they had cancer and 49% disagreed with the policy of withholding the truth from the patient. The policy of telling or not telling the truth to the cancer patient in Greece is discussed in comparison with policies and attitudes in other countries.

Patterns and barriers in information disclosure between health care professionals and relatives with cancer patients in Greek society

“…Fifty‐nine percent did not know they had cancer and only 37% were aware of their diagnosis, especially the younger and the most educated breast cancer patients. These rates indicate a marked increase in the proportion of Greek patients who are aware of their disease compared with the findings of an earlier study (Lavrentiadis et al . 1988).…”

“…Although only 15.5% of the patients named their diagnosis, 53% were strongly suspicious of their real diagnosis and 55% of their prognosis. Furthermore, 49% wanted to know if they had cancer and 49% disagreed with the policy of withholding the truth from the patient (Lavrentiadis et al . 1988).…”

Physicians' attitudes to and problems with truth-telling to cancer patients

“…Italy, Spain and Greece) in the traditional medical practice of non-disclosure of cancer diagnosis and prognosis to the patients affected [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], the problem of communication in oncology is far from solved. Italy, Spain and Greece) in the traditional medical practice of non-disclosure of cancer diagnosis and prognosis to the patients affected [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], the problem of communication in oncology is far from solved.…”

Ethik im klinischen Alltag: das Beispiel der Prognoseaufklärung

“…Im Allgemeinen werden von Ärzten und Pflegenden drei Gründe genannt, die Prognose nicht zu sagen [8, 10, 11, 14, Studien (vgl. auch andere [17,18,21,25,[47][48][49]54]) sind in Tabellen 3 und 4 dargestellt.…”