The Evaluation of the Relationship Between the Level of Disclosure of Cancer in Terminally Ill Patients With Cancer and the Quality of Terminal Care in These Patients and Their Families Using the Support Team Assessment Schedule

摘要

Aims: To examine the relationship between informing patients of cancer and the quality of terminal care. Methods: This was a study of 87 consecutive terminally ill cancer patients who died during the last 27-month period. Notification of cancer was classified into 4 groups (A, B, C, and D, respectively): "nondisclosure," "disclosure of cancer diagnosis," "disclosure of life threatening," and "disclosure of poor prognosis." We evaluated the quality of palliative care using Support Team Assessment Schedule-Japanese (STAS-J). Results: A, B, C, and D groups included 8, 22, 37, and20 cases, respectively. Regarding physical symptoms, no marked difference was noted. Anxiety was significantly reduced, and the recognition of disease conditions and the level of communication were significantly higher in the groups that received specific information (P < .001). Conclusions: Informing patients of more specific information will increase the quality of terminal care.