Women’s decision-making needs related to treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer: A pilot study
Abstract
The purpose of this pilot study was to describe the decision-making needs of women with ovarian cancer related to treatment of recurrent disease.
Design: A retrospective, cross-sectional needs assessment was conducted. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews and analyzed using content analysis.
Results: Thirteen women were recruited. Eleven women did not report difficulty in making the decision. Five women perceived that they had options. Seven had a passive role in the decision. When considering future decisions, nine women preferred a shared or autonomous role; seven wanted to be presented with options. The role of nurses in providing information was emphasized.
Conclusions: The findings provide some beginning direction for an inter-professional decision support approach, as well as implications for future research.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Charles, C., Redko, C., Whelan, T., Gafni, A., & Reyno, L. (1998).
Doing nothing is no choice: Lay construction of treatment
decision-making among women with early-stage breast cancer.
Sociol. Health Illness, 20, 71–95.
Degner, L.F., & Beaton, J.I. (1987). Life-death decisions in health
care. New York: Hemisphere Publishing.
Degner, L.F., & Sloan, J.A. (1992). Decision-making during serious
illness: What role do patients really want to play? Journal of
Clinical Epidemiology, 45, 941–950.
Donovan, K.A., Greene, P.G., Shuster, J.L., Partridge, E.E., & Tucker,
D.C. (2002). Treatment preferences in recurrent ovarian cancer.
Gynecologic Oncology, 86, 200–211.
Elit, L., Charles, C., Gold, I., Gafni, A., Farrell, S., Tedford, S., et al.
(2003). Women’s perceptions about treatment decision-making for
ovarian cancer. Gynecologic Oncology, 88, 89–95.
Fiset, V., O’Connor, A.M., Evans, W., Graham, I., DeGrasse, C., &
Logan, J. (2000). Development and evaluation of a decision aid for
patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Health
Expectations, 3, 125–136.
Fitch, M.I., Deane, K., & Howell, D. (2003). Living with ovarian
cancer: Women’s perspectives on treatment and treatment decisionmaking.
Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 13(1), 8–20.
Fitch, M.I., Gray, R.E., DePetrillo, D., Franssen, E., & Howell, D.
(1999). Canadian women’s perspectives on ovarian cancer.
Cancer Prevention & Control, 3, 52–60.
Fung Kee Fung, M., Elit, L., Hirte, H., Rosen, B., & Members of the
Gynecologic Oncology Disease Site Group. (2006).
Chemotherapy for recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer
previously treated with platinum. Cancer Care Ontario.
Howe, H.L., Lehnherr, M., & Katterhagen, J.G. (1997). Effects of
physician outreach programs on rural-urban differences in breast
cancer management. Journal of Rural Health, 13, 109–117.
Howell, D., Fitch, M.I., & Deane, K.A. (2003). Women’s experiences
with recurrent ovarian cancer. Cancer Nursing, 26, 10–17.
McCormack, J.P., Dolovich, L., Levine, M., Burns, S., Nair, K.,
Cassels, A., et al. (2003). Providing evidence-based information to
patients in general practice and pharmacies: What is the
acceptability, usefulness and impact on drug use? Health
Expectations, 6, 281–289.
McGuire, W.P. (2002). Patient active guide to living with ovarian
cancer. Ref type: Slide.
Murray, M.A. (2001). Women’s decision-making needs regarding
location of care in the last weeks of life for a terminal illness: A
pilot study. Master’s of Science in Nursing, University of Ottawa.
National Cancer Institute of Canada. (2008). Canadian Cancer
Statistics 2008. Retrieved from www.cancer.ca
O’Connor, A.M., & Jacobsen, M.J. (2007). Decisional conflict:
Supporting people experiencing uncertainty about options
affecting their health [PDF monograph on the Internet]. Ottawa:
Ottawa Health Decision Centre.
O’Connor, A.M., Stacey, D., Entwistle, V., Llewenllyn-Thomas, H.,
Rovner, D., Holmes-Rovner, M., et al. (2004). Decision aids for
people facing health treatment or screening decisions
(Cochrane Review). The Cochrane Library, Chichester, U.K.: John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Penson, R.T., Digman, F., Seiden, M.V., Lee, H., Gallagher, C.J.,
Matulonis, U.A., et al. (2004). Attitudes to chemotherapy in
patients with ovarian cancer. Gynecologic Oncology, 94, 427–435.
Rutten, L.J., Arora, N.K., Bakos, A.D., Aziz, N., & Rowland, J.
(2005). Information needs and sources of information among
cancer patients: A systematic review of research. Patient
Education and Counseling, 57, 250–261.
Silverman, D. (2001). Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for
analyzing talk, text and interaction (2nd ed.). London: Sage
Publications.
Stacey, D., O’Connor, A. M., DeGrasse, C., & Verma, S. (2003).
Development and evaluation of a breast cancer prevention decision
aid for higher-risk women. Health Expectations, 6, 3–18.
Stafford, D., Szczys, R., Becker, R., Anderson, J., & Bushfield, S.
(1998). How breast cancer treatment decisions are made by women
in North Dakota. American Journal of Surgery, 176, 515–519.
Stewart, D.E., Wong, F., Cheung, A.M., Dancey, J., Meana, M., Cameron,
J.I., et al. (2000). Information needs and decisional preferences among
women with ovarian cancer. Gynecologic Oncology, 77, 357–361.
Watt, S. (2000). Clinical decision-making in the context of chronic
illness. Health Expectations, 3, 6–16.
Whelan, T., Levine, M., Willan, A., Gafni, A., Sanders, K., Mirsky,
D., et al. (2004). Effect of a decision aid on knowledge and
treatment decision-making for breast cancer surgery: A
randomized trial [see comment]. JAMA, 292, 435–441.
Whelan, T., Sawka, C., Levine, M., Gafni, A., Reyno, L., Willan, A.,
et al. (2003). Helping patients make informed choices: A
randomized trial of a decision aid for adjuvant chemotherapy in
lymph node-negative breast cancer [see comment]. Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, 95, 581–587.
Witkin, B.R., & Altschuld, J.W. (1995). Planning and conducting
needs assessments: A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.


