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Effect of oral tumour size on quality of life judgements by health care professionals working with head and neck cancer patients: a pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2009

K Reid ,
C Hicks ,
S Herron-Marx  and
S Parmar
K Reid*
Affiliation:
Head and Neck Unit, University Hospital Birmingham National Health Service Foundation Trust, UK
C Hicks
Affiliation:
School of Health Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK
S Herron-Marx
Affiliation:
National Health Service Centre for Involvement, Warwick University, UK
S Parmar
Affiliation:
Head and Neck Unit, University Hospital Birmingham National Health Service Foundation Trust, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Ms Kate Reid, Head and Neck Unit, University Hospital Birmingham NHSFT, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK. E-mail: kate.reid@uhb.nhs.uk
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Abstract

Aim:

To investigate whether information about the size of an oral tumour influences the multi-disciplinary team's judgement about the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients.

Method:

Using a between-group design, two groups of health care professionals rated a hypothetical patient on 20 outcome variables. The patient description was identical for both groups, except for the tumour size.

Results:

Comparison of variable ratings revealed only three significant differences between the groups' predictions and no consistency within conditions, suggesting that the participants held few common assumptions about the impact of tumour size on a range of patient experiences.

Conclusion:

The lack of agreement amongst the health care professionals suggests that, where humane judgements are used in treatment decisions for head and neck cancer patients, these may be random and inconsistent. Consequently, patients should have a direct input into treatment decisions, via formalised quality of life data.

Keywords

Head And Neck CancerDecision MakingQuality Of Life
Type
Main Articles
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 123 , Issue 12 , December 2009 , pp. 1352 - 1357
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2009

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