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Need for information, honesty and respect: patient perspectives on health care professionals communication about cancer and fertility

Overview of attention for article published in Reproductive Health, January 2018
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (70th percentile)

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Citations

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Title
Need for information, honesty and respect: patient perspectives on health care professionals communication about cancer and fertility
Published in
Reproductive Health, January 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12978-017-0441-z
Pubmed ID
Authors

Jane M. Ussher, Chloe Parton, Janette Perz

Abstract

Individuals affected by cancer report a need for information about fertility from health care professionals (HCPs), in order to inform decision making and alleviate anxiety. However, there is evidence that many health professionals do not engage in such discussions. A mixed method design was used to examine the construction and subjective experience of communication with health professionals about fertility in the context of cancer, from the perspective of patients. A survey was completed by 693 women and 185 men, across a range of cancer tumour types and age groups, and in-depth one-to-one interviews conducted with a purposively selected subsample of survey respondents, 61 women and 17 men. The chi square test for independence was used to test for group differences between women and men on closed survey items. Thematic analysis was used to examine the open ended survey responses and interviews. Significantly more women (57%, n = 373) than men (46%, n = 80) (X2(2517) = 6.54, p = .011) reported that they had discussed fertility with a HCP since diagnosis of cancer. Satisfaction with the discussion was reported by 65% (n = 242) of women and 69% (n = 54) (ns) of men. This discussion was reported to have been initiated by the patient or their partner in 44% (n = 165) of women and 47% (n = 37) (ns) of men. In the interviews and open ended surveys three themes were identified: Feeling heard and informed about fertility after cancer: Positive experiences of HCP communication; "I was never given full disclosure": HCP silence or reticence about discussing fertility after cancer, including the sub-theme "Their primary concern is getting me cancer free": Constructions of absence of fertility communication by HCPs; and Confusion and lack of compassion: Unsatisfactory information provision about fertility and cancer. Discussion with a HCP about fertility concerns, and satisfaction with the discussion, was associated with reports of lower patient distress, greater knowledge and understanding of the consequences of cancer on fertility, involvement in the decision making process about fertility preservation, and satisfaction with health care.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 132 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 132 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 16 12%
Researcher 14 11%
Student > Bachelor 13 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 11 8%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 5%
Other 19 14%
Unknown 52 39%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 21 16%
Psychology 15 11%
Medicine and Dentistry 11 8%
Social Sciences 11 8%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 3 2%
Other 14 11%
Unknown 57 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 June 2018.
All research outputs
#6,402,484
of 23,316,003 outputs
Outputs from Reproductive Health
#719
of 1,432 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#128,290
of 443,483 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Reproductive Health
#43
of 55 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,316,003 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,432 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.1. This one is in the 49th percentile – i.e., 49% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 443,483 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 55 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 23rd percentile – i.e., 23% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.