Attitudes of the General Population Regarding Patient Information for a Chronic and Life-Threatening Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The form of communication developed between the physician and the patient and between the physician and the patient's close relatives builds the foundation for the process of announcing unpleasant news, which is related to the diagnosis of chronic disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of the general population regarding the information of patients for a chronic and life-threatening disease.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional study. An anonymous questionnaire was used on a sample of 350 people.

Results: The 95.1% of participants considered that patients have the right to be fully informed about their health status and that the physician has the right to be informed. The 90.3% of the respondents argued that patients differ in their preferences. Totally, 60.3% of participants agreed that all patients would like to know the bad news about their health, while 44.5% argued that patients do not want to hear bad news about their health, and 32.3% believed that patients should be protected from the announcement of bad news. The majority of respondents (95.6%) were informed by the physician about their or their relevant chronic disease.

Conclusions: The general population is of the opinion that patients should be informed about their health status. Due to the fact that each patient responds differently to the announcement of the unpleasant news, the respondents replied that the announcement of the unpleasant news should be personalized and carried out by the physician.

Keywords: Attitudes; Chronic; Disease; General population; Life-threatening.