Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Palliative Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0269216308100772v1
23/4/354    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Corli, O
Right arrow Articles by Enterri, L
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Corli, O
Right arrow Articles by Enterri, L
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

research-article

Illness awareness in terminal cancer patients: an Italian study

O Corli

C.E.R.P. (Center for the Evaluation and Research on Pain), Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milano, corli{at}marionegri.it

G Apolone

C.E.R.P. (Center for the Evaluation and Research on Pain), Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milano

M Pizzuto

Palliative Care Unit, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milano

L Cesaris

Palliative Care Unit, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milano

A Cozzolino

Palliative Care Unit, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milano

L Orsi

Palliative Care Unit, Ospedale Maggiore, Crema

L Enterri

Palliative Care Unit, Ospedale Maggiore, Crema

The amount and quality of information and awareness in cancer patients’ is a topic frequently debated, but few studies have focussed on terminal patients. This is the objective of the present study that involved two different palliative home-care units in Italy, which recruited 550 terminal cancer patients. Data from patients and their caregivers was prospectively collected with special attention to information patients were provided with when their cancer was diagnosed and patients’ awareness of their current health condition. In the case of the information, 67.0% of patients reported they were previously informed about their diagnosis, but only 58.0% seemed to be aware of their terminal condition. The comparison between the caregivers opinions about the level of information provided to the patients and their present awareness and what the patients really know about their own disease shows a high degree of correspondence. Some variables such as age and education level of patients were associated with patient’s awareness.

Key Words: diagnosis • illness awareness • information • prognosis • terminal cancer

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 4, 354-359 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0269216308100772
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?