The Disclosure of Bad News Over the Phone vs. in Person and its Association with Psychological Distress: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Communicating bad news such as a new cancer diagnosis to patients may have a major impact on their well-being. We investigated differences in patients' psychological distress due to the disclosure of bad news by telephone compared to in person in a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods

We included all studies that investigated anxiety, depressive or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in adult patients in whom bad news by telephone compared to in person were disclosed. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO and CINAHL from the inception of each database to October 18, 2022. We included randomized and non-randomized trials.

Results

We screened 5944 studies and included 11 studies in the qualitative analysis and 9 in the meta-an

SUBMITTER: Mueller J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10713955 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature