Patients'and doctors' views of using the schedule for individual quality of life in clinical practice.

• This study explored patients’ and oncologists’ perceptions ofusing a computer-administered, individualized quality-of-life (QOL) in-strument to support an oncologic consultation. Twenty patients with gas-trointestinal cancer (50% female; mean age 60 years) at two hospitals inSweden completed the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality ofLife-Direct Weight (SEIQoL–DW) and the Disease-Related (DR) SEIQoL-DWand brought the results to the consultation. Afterwards, interviews wereconducted with all patients and six of eight doctors. All interviews wereaudiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using an interpretivist approach.Most patients and doctors believed that the instrument would facilitatedetection of patients’ areas of concern and would support monitoringof patients’ QOL. This tool may empower the patient, give the doctor abroader picture of the patient, and influence clinical decision-making. TheSEIQoL-DW may be a systematic method of stimulating patient-centeredcare. It apparently encourages patients to reflect upon their own situationand allows them to be seen as whole persons. However, further quantita-tive evaluation of the intervention’s outcomes is required.

Keyword

Adult

Aged

Attitude of Health Personnel

Cross-Sectional Studies

Female

Humans

Interviews/methods

Male

Medical Oncology/*statistics & numerical data

Middle Aged

Neoplasms/psychology/therapy

Patient Participation

Physician's Practice Patterns/*statistics & numerical data

Psychometrics/methods

Quality of Life

Questionnaires/*classification

Sexual Dysfunction; Physiological/psychology

Sickness Impact Profile

Stress; Psychological

Sweden

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)