Over the years, incidence numbers of head and neck cancers, specifically oral cancer, have significantly increased in the Netherlands. Surgery is considered to be the primary treatment of choice followed by radiotherapy. The treatment decision depends on the one hand on the tumor and the recommendation of the treatment team, and on the other hand on the needs and preferences of the patient. Providing oral cancer patients with adequate information is therefore essential for shared decision making and high quality of care. Especially since both of these treatment options can lead to different functional impairments and interfere with vital functions such as speech and swallowing. However, communication within the oncology setting is challenging for health care providers. On top of that, it is for oral cancer patients difficult to imagine how these treatment consequences may affect them afterwards. This compromises the shared decision-making process and ultimately patients’ quality of life. One way to support physicians’ communication with oral cancer patients and facilitate shared decision-making may be the adoption of technology. Hence, this PhD project aims to investigate whether and how technology can be implemented to optimize information provision and shared decision making. More specifically, we focus on gaining insight into patients’ information and support needs as well as on gaining a better understanding of the challenges and preferences physicians face when providing information and facilitating shared decision-making to patients. In the last phase of this project, this knowledge will be used to examine what role technology can play in the communication process. To achieve this, we adopt a mixed-method approach whereby we will use surveys, interviews as well as observational data of patient-provider communication during consultation. This project is a collaboration between the Amsterdam School of Communication/ASCoR and the Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital (NKI-AvL).
Research team:
- Song Duimel (PhD student)
- Prof. dr. J.C.M. van Weert (promotor, Amsterdam School of Communication Research/ASCoR) and Prof. dr. M.W.M. van den Brekel (promotor, NKI-AvL)
- Dr. A.J. Linn (co-promotor, Amsterdam School of Communication/ASCoR) and Dr. R.J.J.H. van Son (co-promotor, NKI-AvL)
- Prof. dr. A.J.M. Balm, MD PhD (supervisor, NKI-AvL)
Status: Ongoing since 1 February 2021
Funding: Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (NKI-AvL)