Older adults with advanced cancer are selective in sharing and seeking information with social networks.
Lee Kehoe, Chandrika Sanapala, Grace DiGiovanni and 12 others
PMID 35717349WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with advanced cancer chose different people for different support: health-care background for cancer information, illness experience for emotional support, close, frequent contacts for tasks.
Patients and helpers often disagreed on conversation depth and who made decisions.
Key findings
01Older adults engaged in selective sharing, choosing whom to tell, whom to ask, and what to share based on the support they needed.
02For cancer and treatment information, older adults sought network members with health-care backgrounds, even when those members were distant or contacted less often.
03Patients and network members often described the same relationship differently, including whether conversations were in-depth and who made the final decision.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Findings come from one geographic area, so they may not apply to other cancer populations. Most patients were men and most network members were women, which may bias themes. Only one network member per older adult was included, and the patient chose that member, so the study may miss other relationships. Interviews were transcribed, and participants may have misinterpreted questions or not been fully forthcoming. Prognostic understanding was asked but not included in the analysis. The study described perceptions and processes; it did not measure information quality, decision-making outcomes, or whether communication interventions help.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. It does not state author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that network member involvement improves outcomes or that any communication intervention works. The study described patients' and helpers' perceptions in one area, and it did not test communication strategies or measure clinical outcomes.