What women with OC want

What do Ovarian Cancer Patients expect from treatment?

https://tinyurl.com/mr3rbbxy

Increasingly medicine is being consumer driven. There is now an expectation that any course of treatment should actively involve the patient. However, this is not always the case and this survey of women with ovarian cancer shows their expectations and hopes about treatment and how the reality is different.

Using an on-line platform, (Patients Like Me) 30 women with ovarian cancer received a questionnaire seeking to determine their hopes and expectations at the beginning of their treatment and the actual experience of the process. In addition, information was sought about the impact of this experience on their quality of life.

Results from the survey showed little understanding about the nature of the disease and the side effects of treatment. Most women initially had a realistic expectation of complete cure. Only 20% of women thought they were completely cured after the first course of treatment. This expectation was little changed after subsequent treatment courses, more women after the second intervention focussed on a return to normal life and function rather than complete cure.

The impact on their quality of life was surprising: half of the women reported a positive effect with empowerment and clarity with an appreciation of family and inter-personal relationships. For those women whose experience was negative most reported isolation from work, friends and family, with loss of mobility and financial stress.

The authors suggest there is a lack of communication from care givers and that patients with ovarian cancer cope well when fully informed.