Semi-structured interview for the evaluation of oncological disease awareness E-CEO. Reliability study on a sample of patients with advanced disease

Abstract

Objective: Communication between cancer patients and health professionals is considered one of the most important aspects of care, especially in advanced stages of the disease. Disease awareness, consists of a dynamic and evolving process over time, influenced by the quantity and quality of information and significance that each individual assigns. In this paper, the process for the design, validation and reliable calculation of a semi-structured interview (Interview on the Consciousness of Oncological Disease E-CEO) is described. This process is sparingly intrusive, non-disclosing of information and makes it possible to place an individual along a continuum according to their degree of perception of disease severity. Method: In an initial phase, an open interview was conducted with 15 patients and a list was prepared of key expressions, which were then grouped into five categories. In a second phase, the semi-structured interview model was applied to 42 patients admitted with a diagnosis of advanced oncological disease (clinical stage IV) in the Oncology Hospitalization Unit of the Hospital of A Coruña. Results: The reliability obtained among observers shows that it is a high-quality instrument (Kappa = .70). The data reflects a wide discrepancy between the health status of the patients and their own perception. More than 50% consider their illness “controlled”. Conclusions: This is a simple application that will allow future in-dept research into the study of information integration processes for these types of patients.