Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov;29(11):6279-6287.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06200-1. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

The association between perceived patient-centered care and symptoms experienced by patients undergoing anti-cancer treatment

Inna Tsvitman  1   2 , Orit Cohen Castel  2   3   4 , Efrat Dagan  5
Affiliations

The association between perceived patient-centered care and symptoms experienced by patients undergoing anti-cancer treatment

Inna Tsvitman et al. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: Cancer patients undergoing active anti-cancer treatment experience multiple symptoms concurrently. Over the years, studies to improve patients' physical and psychological discomfort by focusing on patients' needs and preferences have reported promising outcomes. This study aims to explore perceived patient-centered care and its association to symptoms experienced by cancer patients undergoing active anti-cancer treatment.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at an outpatient cancer center between August 2018 and July 2019 among adult cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and biological therapy. Participants were asked by their oncology nurse to complete a self-administered questionnaire which included the three subscales (physical, psychological, and global distress) of the Memorial Symptoms Assessment Scale as well as the perceived patient-centered care questionnaire. To examine the association between participants' perceived patient-centered care and each of the symptoms scale scores, three hierarchical (block-wise) linear regression models were performed.

Results: Of the 125 participants, 57 (45.6%) were diagnosed with breast cancer and were treated with chemotherapy either alone (n = 62, 49.6%), with radiotherapy (n = 4, 3.2%), or with biological therapy (n = 45, 36.0%). Hierarchical regression models found that perceived patient-centered care contributed to 11.3%, β = - .351 (p < 0.001); 8.9%, β = - .311 (p < 0.001); and 10.3% β = -.336 (p < 0.001) of the variance of the global distress index, physical symptoms, and psychological symptoms, respectively.

Conclusions: This study shows the importance of perceived patient-centered care in alleviating physical and psychological symptoms and overall distress in cancer patients undergoing active anti-cancer therapy. Our findings call for oncology teams to adopt and implement patient-centered care as part of their routine work.

Keywords: Anti-cancer treatment; Cancer patients; Perceived patient-centered care; Symptom experience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Hobbs JL. A Dimensional analysis of patient-centered care. Nurs Res. 2009;58:52–62. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0b013e31818c3e79. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Epstein RM, Fiscella K, Lesser CS, Stange KC. Analysis & commentary: why the nation needs a policy push on patient-centered health care. Health Aff. 2010;29:1489–1495. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0888. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Epstein RM, Street RL. The values and value of patient-centered care. Ann Fam Med. 2011;9:100–103. doi: 10.1370/afm.1239. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Balogh EP, Ganz PA, Murphy SB, Nass SJ, Ferrell BR, Stovall E. Patient-centered cancer treatment planning: improving the quality of oncology care. Summary of an Institute of Medicine Workshop. Oncologist. 2011;16:1800–1805. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2011-0252. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wolfe A. Institute of Medicine Report: Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century. Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 2001;2:233–235. doi: 10.1177/152715440100200312. - DOI