Breast Cancer
Conditions
Brief summary
Historically, most pathologists have had little direct contact or communication with patients. In the past two decades, however, there has been a modest movement toward patient-pathologist visits in which pathologists review with patients their pathology slides. Very few studies of such encounters have been conducted. Most surveyed patients reported that the experience was positive and helpful to them. Our basic goal is to determine if such meetings are useful to patients; a secondary goal is to determine if such encounters are useful to, and practical for, pathologists.
Interventions
OTHERQuestionnaires of Patient understanding of Pathologist input
* Benefit Self-Rating Total Score (assessing patient's perceptions of anticipated and actual extent to which they benefitted from the meeting with the pathologist) * Knowledge Questionnaire Total Score (assessing accuracy of knowledge of their own diagnosis and the diagnostic process in general) * State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y (Total Scores for state (current) and trait (general) anxiety)
Sponsors
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
To determine whether meeting with a pathologist to review and discuss the pathologic findings in their breast samples is beneficial to breast cancer patients.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. Must be at least 18 years of age. 2. Patients must have completed initial diagnosis visit with oncologist or surgeon. 3. Must have pathology slides and reports available for review. 4. Must be able to speak English. 5. Must be willing to participate in this research and will be provided with an information sheet. 6. Pregnant women are eligible as this research poses no risk of physical harm to the participant.
Exclusion criteria
1. Patients \<18 years of age. 2. Patients with DCIS are ineligible. 3. Adults who are unable to provide written signature. 4. Patients from vulnerable patient populations, including infants, minors, those unable to provide informed consent, and those incarcerated or imprisoned at the time of enrollment.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Participant self-rating of understanding of, and empowerment in relation to, their disease, as measured using pre and post-visit knowledge questionnaires, and survey after meeting with a pathologist. | 1-2 weeks | Determine understanding improvement from pre-meeting questionnaires and after pathologist visit with post-visit questionnaires, as well as knowledge questionnaire for both timepoints. Knowledge Questionnaire: Primary Score: Total Score - Total # correct responses on the knowledge questions (12 items total). Survey for Patients after Meeting with Pathologist Primary Score: Item 1 Total Score - Responses will be coded on a 0-4 scale where 0=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree, and the total will be calculated across items 'a' through 'j' of Item 1. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Participant knowledge of their personal disease characteristics | 1-2 weeks | Determined by participant completing pre-and-post visit Knowledge Questionnaires. Knowledge Questionnaire: Primary Score: Total Score - Total # correct responses on the knowledge questions (12 items total). |
| Participant general knowledge of breast cancer pathology | 1-2 weeks | Determined by participant completing pre-and-post visit Knowledge Questionnaires. Knowledge Questionnaire: Primary Score: Total Score - Total # correct responses on the knowledge questions (12 items total). |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOREdward J Gutmann, MD
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Outcome results
None listed