Table 2.

Patient satisfaction with cancer care and services (convenience sample and retrospective study designs)

Author/year, place of study	Data collection	Type of study, sample size, response rate	Cancer types	Study questionnaire, number of items	Key areas of satisfaction	Key areas of dissatisfaction
Brown 2008, USA28	NA	Study sample a part of large randomized trial, 432, 91.4%	Breast	Patient Services Received Scale (PSRS), 15 and Patient Request for Services Schedule (PRFSS), 15	Consultations, the amount of time with physician, information regarding ‘Task Orientation’, ‘Treatment’ options’, and ‘risks’	Physicians’ understanding of their treatment goals, physician–patient discord, emotional needs unmet
Zissiadis 2006, Australia29	NA	Convenience sample, 154, 80%	Breast, gynecological, bowel, prostate, lung skin, others	The Information Satisfaction Questionnaire (ISQ)61 and the State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI), NA	Information received regarding their illness and treatment toxicity	Information received regarding lifestyle issues such as diet, exercise, smoking and practical issues like parking and costs
Davidson 2005, UK30	3 month period	Convenience sample, 461, 78%	Colorectal, lung, breast, prostate, gynecological, gastric	NHS developed questionnaire62	Given an opportunity to discuss concerns with doctor/nurse, diagnosis explained in a way that made it easy to understand, diagnosis given in a suitable place, given an opportunity to take a friend along at the time of diagnosis, GP was quick to refer me to the hospital, enough information about what would happen next	Waiting time at the clinic when tests were carried out, the time between diagnosis and starting treatment, GP’s explanation ofwhy I was being referred to the hospital, privacy in the outpatient clinic when tests were carried out
Gourdji 2003, Canada31	July 2001 to September 2001	Cross sectional, Convenience sample, 124, 77%	NA	Patient satisfaction questionnaire (SEQUS), 26	Time spent with the doctor and nurse, information received about the side effects of the medication	Cleanliness of the washrooms in the waiting area, limited pharmacist inquiry into patient medication regimen, waiting time and the ability to contact someone by telephone
Landen 2003, USA14	NA	Convenience sample, 48, 67%	Breast	PMH-PSQ-MD, 41	Physician honesty, thoroughness at diagnosis and treatment, and communication	Amount of time spent with the physician and physician’s lack of understanding of their pain
McNamara 2003, Scotland32	NA	Convenience sample, 68, 62%	Neurological	Questionnaire developed by Hill (1997), 4560	Access to the service, continuity of care, attitude towards the patient, technical quality and competence, giving of information	Empathy with the patient, general satisfaction
Thomas 1997, England7	5-month period	Convenience sample 256, 98.5%	NA	Anonymous questionnaire, 30	Amount of information given, knowledge of illness, friendliness, care and helpfulness of staff, nurses and doctors, transport to the oncology clinic	Waiting time, lack of refreshments, need for information (medical), dismal surroundings, blood test organization, seeing different doctors, distress/pain of physical examination
Fossa 1996, Norway33	1991 and 1993	Consecutive case series, 559, 84%, in 1993 and 211, 91.9% in 1991	ENT, gastrointestinal, lung/mediastinal, sarcoma, melanoma, breast, gynecological, urological, malignant lymphoma	Questionnaire developed by Norwegian Radium Hospital, Q-NRH	Doctor’s personal skill and training, sincere consideration to problems, expectations understood, questions answered, sufficient time	Overall time spent at the out-patient department, not having sufficient time with the cancer specialist