Patient and family communication during consultation visits: The effects of a decision aid for treatment decision-making for localized prostate cancer.
Lixin Song, Christina Tyler, Margaret F Clayton and 5 others
PMID 27692491WHAT IT FOUND
For men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer, a decision aid with a DVD, booklet, and nurse calls showed more patient and family information giving and question asking when it targeted the patient alone.
Adding family calls did not show this increase.
Key findings
01Family members provided information at approximately 48%, 59%, and 49% of visits in the patient-only, patient-plus-family, and usual care groups.
02Family members in the usual care group asked questions significantly more often than those in the other two groups (p<0.01).
03The analysis combined patient and family communication behaviors because family members of approximately 100 patients were absent or did not speak.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis combined patient and family communication behaviors because many family members were absent or did not speak, so it cannot show what family members alone contributed. The study tested the whole decision aid (DVD, booklet, and nurse calls) and did not separate which component mattered. It coded only verbal information giving and question asking, not nonverbal behavior or affect. It analyzed one consultation visit per patient, not later visits or non-face-to-face contacts. Providers' communication was not examined, although providers shape the consultation. The sample was limited to patients and family members who agreed to be recorded.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were disclosed. The work was supported by a Clinical and Translational Sciences Award at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center University Cancer Research Fund.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adding family members to the decision aid improves consultation communication. The patient-only group showed more information giving and question asking than the family-included group, and the study did not separate the effects of the DVD, booklet, and nurse calls.