Table 3.
Breaking of bad news in a Nigerian neurosurgical service patients and relations opinion and preference.
| Opinion and preference | Patients | Relations | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | N (%) | ||
| To whom the news be broken | n = 109 | n = 114 | |
| Patient only | 7 (6.4) | 4 (3.5) | |
| Patient and relation(s) | 96 (88.1) | 92 (80.7) | |
| Only the relation(s) | 5 (4.6) | 17 (14.9) | |
| Prefer not to know | 1 (0.9) | 1 (0.9) | 0.06 |
| When to break the news | n = 105* | n = 113* | |
| As soon as possible after diagnosis/admission | 89 (84.8) | 97 (85.8) | |
| Much later during the admission | 11 (10.1) | 11 (9.7) | |
| After the initial hospitalization | 5 (4.8) | 5 (4.4) | 0.98 |
| Lifestyle changes | n = 109 | n = 111** | |
| Completely new beginning | 24 (21.8) | 21 (18.9) | |
| A great change | 50 (45.5) | 58 (52.3) | |
| Moderate change | 33 (30.0) | 30 (27.0) | |
| None | 3 (2.7) | 2 (1.8) | 0.749 |
*Four subjects among patients and one among relations were undecided.
**Three subjects among patient relations undecided.
This table is a comparison of relations’ opinion and preference on breaking of bad news with that of a contemporary patient population. Although a higher proportion of relations opined that relations only (14.9%) should be informed of the bad news compared to patients’ (4.6%), this did not reach statistical significance. There was also no significant difference in the preference of patients and relations regarding when to break the bad news.