Enhancing Symptom Screening and Patient Education Among Patients with Metastatic Lung Cancer: a Qualitative Analysis

AbstractWe explored perspectives of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) on symptom screening and population-level patient-reported outcome (PRO) data regarding common symptom trajectories in the year after diagnosis. A qualitative study of patients with mNSCLC was conducted at a Canadian tertiary cancer centre. English-speaking patients diagnosed  ≥ 6 months prior to study invitation were recruited, and semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted. Patient and treatment characteristics were obtained via chart review. Anonymized interview transcripts underwent deductive-inductive coding and thematic content analysis. Among ten participants (5 (50%) females; median (range) age, 68 (56–77) years; median (range) time since diagnosis, 28.5 (6–72) months; 6 (60%) with smoking histories), six themes were identified in total. Two themes were identified regarding symptom screening: (1) screening is useful for symptom self-mon itoring and disclosure to the healthcare team, (2) screening of additional quality-of-life (QOL) domains (smoking-related stigma, sexual dysfunction, and financial toxicity) is desired. Four themes were identified regarding population-level symptom trajectory PRO data: (1) data provide reassurance a nd motivation to engage in symptom self-management, (2) data should be disclosed after an oncologic treatment plan is developed, (3) data should be communicated via in-person discussion with accompanying patient-education re...
Source: Journal of Cancer Education - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research