Assessment of patients’ perception of communication with physicians among cancer patients receiving radiation therapy - A cross-sectional analytical study

This cross-sectional study focuses on assessing the perception of patients’ receiving radiation therapy on communication with their physicians using a validated tool EORTC QLQ-COMU26 (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire- Communication Module 26), which is a cancer-specific communication questionnaire. It also looks into the association between socio-demographic and clinical variables with patients’ perception of communication with physicians.  The study will be conducted in Regional Cancer Center of JIPMER after receiving approval from the Institue Ethical committee. Participants will be selected based on the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Written informed consent will be taken from the participants. Socio-demographic and clinical data will be collected with a structured questionnaire and viewing the previous health records. Assessment of patients’ perception regarding communication with physicians is done by self-administration of EORTC QLQ-COMU26 questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaire would take 15-20 minutes to obtain data from each participant during the time of assessment. The study will provide insight into the gap existing in the patient- physician communication and findings can be used to develop and implement interventions needed to bridge this gap.