Communication Skills between the Relatives and the Doctors of Patients with Cancer Treated in Radiation Oncology: A Cross-sectional Questionnaire Study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the communication between relatives and the doctors of patients with cancer treated in the radiation oncology department using a questionnaire composed of two sections. METHODS Relatives of 168 patients were selected through simple randomization after having obtained informed consent from the patients. A questionnaire form, which was developed based on the patient-physician communication scale, which had the sub-dimensions of information, empathy and confidence and included questions regarding socio-demographic data, and which used a Likert-type scale, was applied. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal Wallis test. RESULTS A statistically significant difference was determined in the information and empathy sub-dimensions concerning the gender and the education level of the relatives (p=0.03, p=0.01, p=0.001) and the frequency of seeing the doctor and the doctor’s tolerance (p=0.007, p=0.02); in the confidence possession sub-dimension, a difference was found between the age groups of the relatives and the tumor groups of the patients (p=0.039, p=0.002), duration of seeing the doctor and talking with the doctor (p=0.004, p=0.009), between the relatives’ praying and all sub-dimensions (p=0.009, p