Table A1.
Patient Beliefs and Treatment Preferences
| Preference or Belief | Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy (n = 183; %, [No.]) | Not Both/Neither* (n = 56; %, [No.]) | P |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient role in decision making about therapies†‡§‖ (4 missing responses; 40 not asked¶) | |||
| Decision to have chemotherapy | |||
| Patient made decision | 32 (52) | 52 (17) | .02 |
| Patient made decision together with physician | 50 (81) | 33 (11) | |
| Physicians made decision | 17 (27) | 15 (5) | |
| Do not know | 1 (2) | 0 (0) | |
| Decision to have radiotherapy | |||
| Patient made decision | 35 (58) | 47 (14) | < .01 |
| Patient made decision together with physician | 50 (83) | 30 (9) | |
| Physicians made decision | 12 (19) | 17 (5) | |
| Do not know | 3 (5) | 7 (2) | |
| Patient beliefs about therapies†‡§ (chemotherapy: 46 not asked¶; 4 missing; radiotherapy: 45 not asked¶; 3 missing ) | |||
| Chemotherapy (“very likely” or “somewhat likely”) | |||
| Would likely cure their cancer | 69 (111) | 56 (15) | .24 |
| Would likely prolong their life | 88 (142) | 59 (16) | < .01 |
| Would likely help with their symptoms | 77 (109) | 50 (12) | .02 |
| Would likely have side effects | 86 (140) | 67 (18) | .03 |
| Radiotherapy (“very likely” or “somewhat likely”) | |||
| Would likely cure their cancer | 61 (101) | 32 (8) | .03 |
| Would likely prolong their life | 80 (133) | 36 (9) | < .01 |
| Would likely help with their symptoms | 70 (105) | 41 (9) | .05 |
| Would likely have side effects | 71 (118) | 52 (13) | .06 |
| Role patient generally prefers to play in decision making and role family played†§ (5 missing) | |||
| Preferred role | |||
| Patient make decision on his/her own | 32 (49) | 39 (16) | .82 |
| Make the decision together with physician | 58 (89) | 51 (21) | |
| Physicians make the decision | 10 (15) | 10 (4) | |
| Role family played | |||
| Patient made decision | 45 (68) | 50 (19) | .81 |
| Make the decision together with family | 53 (81) | 47 (18) | |
| Family made decision | 2 (3) | 3 (1) | |
| Preferences regarding extension of life†§ (5 missing) | |||
| Extension of life v pain and discomfort | |||
| Prefers treatment that extends life as much as possible, even if it means having more pain/discomfort | 53 (82) | 32 (13) | .09 |
| Prefers treatment that focuses on relieving pain as much as possible, even if it means not living as long | 35 (54) | 51 (21) | |
| Refused to answer/do not know | 12 (19) | 17 (7) | |
| Extension of life v cost of treatment | |||
| Prefers treatment that extends life as much as possible, even if it means using up financial resources | 63 (97) | 49 (20) | .25 |
| Prefers treatment that costs less, even if means not living as long | 26 (41) | 32 (13) | |
| Refused to answer/do not know | 11 (17) | 19 (8) | |
| Expected time to live, fatalism beliefs, and concerns about treatment† | |||
| Expected time to live | |||
| Less than 5 years | 4 (6) | 6 (2) | .88 |
| At least 5 years | 62 (84) | 64 (21) | |
| In God's hands/do not know | 34 (46) | 30 (10) | |
| Fatalism beliefs (“strongly agree” or “agree”) | |||
| When bad things happen, we are not supposed to know why, we are just supposed to accept them | 40 (57) | 53 (18) | .34 |
| People die when it is their time, and nothing can change it | 62 (87) | 56 (19) | .30 |
| Everything that happens is a part of God's plan | 76 (107) | 71 (24) | .50 |
| If bad things happen, it is because they were meant to be | 44 (62) | 44 (15) | .74 |
| Treatment concerns (“very worried” or “somewhat worried”) about: | |||
| Adverse effects from treatment | 63 (87) | 53 (18) | .26 |
| Cost of treatment | 21 (29) | 26 (9) | .81 |
| Taking time away from family | 33 (46) | 41 (14) | .80 |
| Taking time away from work | 32 (44) | 44 (15) | .76 |
| Transportation to treatment | 13 (18) | 14 (5) | .45 |
*
Received chemotherapy only, radiotherapy only, or neither.
†
Full survey.
‡
Brief survey.
§
Survey of surrogate (live patient).
‖
Survey of surrogate (deceased patient).
¶
Items not asked of those reporting that no one ever talked to them about chemotherapy/radiotherapy, or that they were told not to have it.