Table 4.
Participant description of oncologist communication that helped to reduce their FCR (N = 102)
| Themes (N) | Supporting Quotes |
|---|---|
| 1. Low Recurrence (57) | |
| 1a. Citing specific statistics (30) | • “He told me that it was 95% treatable without it coming back.” • “That there is only a 10% change that it could ever come back.” |
| 1b. Highlighting curability of disease (20) | • “I would say as far as it being a curable disease, that kind of helps me put, you know, my mind at rest some. You know, that it’s curable.” • “He said he didn’t think that it would come back.” |
| 1c. Citing specific timeline milestones (7) | • “She said that the chances of it coming back would happen within the first year. Once you surpass that first year, the chances of it coming back are much, much less, or much smaller, rather. So that’s, I found solace in that.” • “If it was going to come back (it) would be during the first year, not that it doesn’t come back later, but the graph goes down. And that it was eliminated so quickly in each, uh, every three months, then the odds, the odds of it coming back are better.” |
| • 2. General Reassurance (35) | |
| 2a. Being trustworthy and portraying expertise (20) | • “He, I mean, he’s, it, I don’t know, I have a lot of trust in Dr. H, you know, I think he’s an expert in the field.” • “Well, she says to me, for instance, the radiation, she says you to do for your own benefit, but she doesn’t push me, but she lets me know what’s the best. So, if I follow the best advices from her, I’m going to be doing okay.” |
| 2b. Having a positive attitude or demeanor (15) | • “She’s always been very positive and very factual and doesn’t hesitate to answer any questions I have or to even make fun of me when I ask, you know, and she’s just a very down to earth, common sense, straightforward shooter.” • “Yeah, he was very encouraging. He was like; we’re not going to get a scan for a while until you get any symptoms. He’s pretty confident that it’s cured, but then he emphasized, also, like not to stress too much.” |
| 3. Quality of Care (20) | |
| 3a. Praising specific test results (12) | • “Yeah, I mean, my progress has been pretty good. They’ve been, after every test, they’ve been really good about communicating the results, what that means, and what that means about sort of long-term results. Like with my scan yesterday, he said it was, it was even better than my previous scan six months ago. So, that’s, you know, even better time, so. You know, pretty confident about the lymphoma.” • “Since I had a clear PET Scan three months into it—that that was a good indicator that it would stay gone hopefully.” |
| 3b. Reassuring patient about effectiveness of treatment (8) | • “About the fact that it reacted so well to the chemotherapy.” • “The way he described the thoroughness of the treatment, and the follow-up monitoring protocols.” |
| 4. Specific Action Plans (10) | • “I mean, basically there are a set of things that he keeps telling me about, to check for night fevers, sweating and, you know, those kinds of things.” • “I don’t miss an appointment that’s number one, and not missing taking blood or whatever, and he tells me, “Oh, the blood I would watch it.” He’s saying now like it looks like I’m anemic. He tells me the results of the blood test, you know, and do I have any questions, do I feel any lumps or whatever on my body. He checks my neck and everything. And if I have any questions or anything happens that is not correct to give a call.” • “The doctor just said to continue with the check-ups, exercise, and to come in every 3 months” |
| 5. Continuity of Care (5) | • “He says don’t worry, yeah, don’t worry. We are here for you. I would try the best of my knowledge and everything I can do for you. So, just go on with your life. That is the best medication for me, because I know he will be there for me.” |