The perceptions and expectations of pallative period oncology patients about bad news and their attitudes to death

In this study, the opinions of the oncology patients in the palliative period about their experiences, subjective experiences of bad news interviews, and communication preferences for receiving bad news were evaluated. In addition, death anxiety and attitudes towards death were examined. In our country, research and studies in the field of psychooncology are very few and limited. The issue of giving and receiving bad news is particularly important in the field of oncology. It is a subject that is of great interest to the health team working in the field of oncology, oncology patients and their relatives. On the other hand, attitudes towards death and death anxiety are one of the main issues for the oncology patients, especially in the palliative period. Therefore, it is important to understand the situation of oncology patients in the diagnosis and treatment stages and to find the factors that affect the psychosocial environment of the palliative care process. The sample of the study consisted of 80 people who received palliative care at the Oncology Institute of Istanbul University (n = 80). Semi-Structured Questionnaire, Death Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Attitude to Death Scale, Automatic Thoughts Scale were applied to volunteers through the interviewer. 80% (n = 56) of the patients reported that they should know the diagnosis. 51% of the patients stated that their treatment options were partially discussed with them, 40% of them never talked about and they accepted the proposed treatment directly and only 9% of them talked about treatment options. In addition, 96% of oncology patients stated that they were not asked if they preferred someone to be with them during doctor interview while 4% were asked. These data represent an example of the oncology patients' participation in the treatment processes in our country. In addition, a positive and statistically significant correlation was found between oncology patients' Beck Anxiety Scale scores and Beck Depression Scale scores (r = 0,356 and p <0,01). There was a statistically significant difference between the group who found the language of the doctor to be very terminological and complex and the group who found it easy and understandable (p = 0,009). The average score of the patients who found the language of the doctor to be very terminological and complex from the automatic thoughts scale was found to be higher than the other group (p <0,05). When the attitudes towards death scale and gender status were compared, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in the Approach Acceptance sub-dimension in favor of female group at p <0,05 level (p = 0,044). As a result, the perceptions, expectations and attitudes of the palliative oncology patients on bad news were evaluated. In addition, the factors that may affect the psychological adjustment mechanisms during the illness process were determined. Keywords: bad news, palliative care, communication, attitudes towards death, oncology