Table 4.

Opinions expressed in focus groups and interviews

	Patients focus groups	Patients interviews	Professionals focus groups
Differences between older and younger patients
Individual variance, apart from age differences	-	x	x
Older patients have more difficulty processing information	x	-	x
Older patients have more life experience and different expectations about the future	x	-	x
The difference in life expectations has its impact on the decision to undergo a treatment or not	-	-	x
Older patients are more vulnerable (co morbidity) and have more resistance to ask for assistance: they need guidance in asking for and receiving help	x	-	x
Needs of older cancer patients
Concrete information about their disease and treatment	x	x	x
Exploring the patient's personal situation	x	x	x
Exploring information needs of patient and relative	x	x	-
Tailor information to the patient's specific needs and situation	x	x	x
Preferences of timing of providing the information differs among patients	x	-	-
Empathy, support and reassurance, for both patient and relative	x	x	-
Exploring patient's expectations or ideas about chemotherapy treatment	-	-	x
Exploring patient's goals of undergoing treatment	x	x	x
Engage both patient and relative actively in patient education	x	-	-
Encourage patient and relative to ask questions	x	-	x
Communication training for nurses to tailor to patients' needs	x	x	x
Follow-up training, in which learning in practice is the key ingredient.	-	-	x
Enhancing recall of information
Bring a (younger) person	x	x	x
Check: does patient understand the information?	x	x	x
Set priorities and offer information in a structured manner	x	-	x
Spread information over time (piece by piece)	x	-	x
Speak in clear language/avoid jargon	x	-	-
Summarize most important information	x	-	x
Combine different methods of offering information	-	x	x
Use question prompt list	x	-	x

Note. x = opinion is expressed by participants