49 The information and communication needs of patients with advanced incurable cancer: a rapid review

Abstract

Evidence provided in this review highlights key information and communication needs of patients with advanced incurable cancer and their caregivers that can inform policy and practice. It illustrates that patients and caregivers want personalised information provided in accordance with their individual preferences for when and how it is presented. Adequate time, openness and sensitivity should be provided by HCPs to facilitate understanding of prognosis, and treatment and care options. Patients' psychosocial barriers to receiving appropriate information include avoidance of the emotional impact and low health literacy. Facilitators included early access to palliative care specialists and the provision of incremental information delivered when it is suitable for patients and caregivers. These should be considered when implementing strategies and training for communicating with patient and caregivers.The evidence base provided by the current studies is weakened by their variability in data collection and analysis but strengthened by the overlap in conver- Key findings1444 studies were initially identified. After removal of duplicates and irrelevant papers, 1349 abstracts were screened in accordance with exclusion and inclusion criteria. In total, 74 full text papers were retrieved and screened. During data extraction and critical appraisal, a further 30 studies were excluded. These were mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, describing caregivers of children or the wrong patient population e.g. patients with cancer unknown to be incurable. Another six studies were removed after data extraction and quality assessment as they did not fully fit the inclusion criteria or were not deemed to include sufficient data relevant to the review. Therefore, 38 studies were included in this review. The information and communication needs of patients with advanced incurable cancer: A rapid review