Table 2.
Decision making roles, beliefs, perceptions of quality and preferences of rectal cancer patients related to radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery by CRT—surgery sequence status
| Radiation Therapy |
Chemotherapy | Surgery | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Pre-op CRT |
Post-op CRT |
Pre-op CRT |
Post-op CRT |
Pre-op CRT |
Post-op CRT |
| Patient role in decision to have ____* | p=0.35 | p=0.12 | p=0.42 | |||
| Made decision with little or no input from doctors | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Made decision after considering doctors' opinions | 32% | 45% | 31% | 40% | 33% | 44% |
| Made decision together with doctor | 53% | 47% | 52% | 44% | 52% | 48% |
| Doctors made decision after considering patient’s opinion | 5% | 3% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 5% |
| Doctors made the decision with little or no input from patient | 10% | 5% | 13% | 5% | 5% | 0% |
| Patient's belief that ____ will help him/her live longer† | p=0.30 | p=0.33 | p=1.00 | |||
| Very likely/ Somewhat likely | 96% | 91% | 95% | 90% | 98% | 98% |
| A little likely/ Not at all likely | 4% | 9% | 5% | 10% | 3% | 2% |
| Patient's belief ___ would help cure his/her cancer† | p<0.01 | p=0.08 | p=0.77 | |||
| Very likely/ Somewhat likely | 61% | 86% | 72% | 85% | 90% | 91% |
| A little likely/ Not at all likely | 39% | 14% | 28% | 15% | 10% | 9% |
| Patient's belief ___ would help with symptoms of cancer† | p=0.04 | p=0.26 | p=0.16 | |||
| Very likely/ Somewhat likely | 88% | 73% | 88% | 80% | 93% | 100% |
| A little likely/ Not at all likely | 12% | 27% | 12% | 20% | 7% | 0% |
| Patient's belief ___ would have side effects/complications† | p=0.48 | p=0.36 | p=0.99 | |||
| Very likely/ Somewhat likely | 79% | 84% | 89% | 93% | 54% | 54% |
| A little likely/ Not at all likely | 21% | 16% | 11% | 7% | 46% | 46% |
| Patient's rating of the quality health care received for ___* | p=0.17 | p=0.27 | p=1.00 | |||
| Excellent/ Very Good/ Good | 94% | 100% | 97% | 100% | 98% | 98% |
| Fair/ Poor | 6% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 2% | 2% |
| Patient Preferences‡ | Pre-op CRT |
Post-op CRT |
||||
| Preferences for treatment that extends life as much as possible vs. treatment that focuses on relieving pain and discomfort¥ | 61% | 60% | ||||
| Preferences for treatment that extends life as much as possible, even if it means using up financial resources vs. treatment that costs less¥ | 68% | 78% | ||||
*
Decision making questions and rating of health care quality asked on the full, brief, surrogate live and surrogate dead surveys (N=165).
†
Beliefs on therapies were asked on the full, brief and surrogate live surveys (N=163).
‡
Patient preference questions were asked on the full survey only (N=128). P-values were non-significant.