Comforting styles of serious illness conversations: a Swiss wide factorial survey study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Serious illness conversations can cause discomfort in patients, potentially impeding their understanding and decision-making. Identifying ways in which physicians can reduce this discomfort may improve care. This study investigates which physician communication styles and characteristics individuals perceive as comforting in physician-patient serious illness conversations.

Methods

We conducted a nationwide online factorial survey in German, French, and Italian with 1572 Swiss participants from the public (51.4% women) aged 16 to 94. Each participant assessed 5 out of 1000 different vignettes describing a physician informing a cancer patient about their terminal prognosis. We systematically manipulated 11 attributes: physician's years of experience, physician sex,

SUBMITTER: Staeck R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11995521 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature