Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the views of Malaysian healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the roles of various stakeholders who were involved in making decisions about prostate cancer treatment. Method: Four in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with HCPs from gov...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lee, Yew Kong, Lee, Ping Yein, Cheong, Ai Theng, Ng, Chirk Jenn, Abdullah, Khatijah Lim, Ong, Teng Aik, Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: Society for Medical Decision Making 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36016/1/36016.pdf
_version_ 1825948759541940224
author Lee, Yew Kong
Lee, Ping Yein
Cheong, Ai Theng
Ng, Chirk Jenn
Abdullah, Khatijah Lim
Ong, Teng Aik
Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan
author_facet Lee, Yew Kong
Lee, Ping Yein
Cheong, Ai Theng
Ng, Chirk Jenn
Abdullah, Khatijah Lim
Ong, Teng Aik
Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan
author_sort Lee, Yew Kong
collection UPM
description Purpose: This study aimed to explore the views of Malaysian healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the roles of various stakeholders who were involved in making decisions about prostate cancer treatment. Method: Four in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with HCPs from government and private hospitals in Malaysia between December 2012 and March 2013. HCPs consisted of private urologists (n=4), government urologists (n=6), urology trainees (n=5), government policy maker (n=1) and oncologists (n=3). There were 16 male and three female participants. Trained researchers used a topic guide to guide the interviews which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, checked and managed with Nvivo 10 software. Thematic approach was used to analyse the data. Result: Three parties were involved in the decision making process: HCPs, patients and family. Patients who did not understand prostate cancer and its treatment had difficulty in making decisions. These patients tended to leave the decision to the HCPs. Some patients made their own treatment decision. Some patients avoid asking too many questions to avoid the possibility of being influenced towards one option by their HCP. HCPs would leave the final say to the patient because of three reasons: to avoid patients’ regret (“patient will not be happy at the end of the day”); wanting the patient to “balance what they wanted and what was the reality of each option”; and knowing there was no single best treatment option. The family members, especially children, made the decision for some patients. This may be due to Malaysia’s close-knit family culture where patients were concerned about their children’s emotions. While some patients were able to make their own decisions for non-invasive treatment (e.g. hormonal treatment), they would like to involve their family if they were considering surgery. HCPs observed that patients rarely involved their wives in decision making. Conclusion: Decision making during prostate cancer treatment involves three parties; HCP, patient and family. The decisional roles depend on the patients personal preferences, understanding of the illness, and the family dynamics.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T08:34:04Z
format Conference or Workshop Item
id upm.eprints-36016
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T08:34:04Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Society for Medical Decision Making
record_format dspace
spelling upm.eprints-360162016-05-17T05:17:26Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36016/ Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment Lee, Yew Kong Lee, Ping Yein Cheong, Ai Theng Ng, Chirk Jenn Abdullah, Khatijah Lim Ong, Teng Aik Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan Purpose: This study aimed to explore the views of Malaysian healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the roles of various stakeholders who were involved in making decisions about prostate cancer treatment. Method: Four in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with HCPs from government and private hospitals in Malaysia between December 2012 and March 2013. HCPs consisted of private urologists (n=4), government urologists (n=6), urology trainees (n=5), government policy maker (n=1) and oncologists (n=3). There were 16 male and three female participants. Trained researchers used a topic guide to guide the interviews which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, checked and managed with Nvivo 10 software. Thematic approach was used to analyse the data. Result: Three parties were involved in the decision making process: HCPs, patients and family. Patients who did not understand prostate cancer and its treatment had difficulty in making decisions. These patients tended to leave the decision to the HCPs. Some patients made their own treatment decision. Some patients avoid asking too many questions to avoid the possibility of being influenced towards one option by their HCP. HCPs would leave the final say to the patient because of three reasons: to avoid patients’ regret (“patient will not be happy at the end of the day”); wanting the patient to “balance what they wanted and what was the reality of each option”; and knowing there was no single best treatment option. The family members, especially children, made the decision for some patients. This may be due to Malaysia’s close-knit family culture where patients were concerned about their children’s emotions. While some patients were able to make their own decisions for non-invasive treatment (e.g. hormonal treatment), they would like to involve their family if they were considering surgery. HCPs observed that patients rarely involved their wives in decision making. Conclusion: Decision making during prostate cancer treatment involves three parties; HCP, patient and family. The decisional roles depend on the patients personal preferences, understanding of the illness, and the family dynamics. Society for Medical Decision Making 2014 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36016/1/36016.pdf Lee, Yew Kong and Lee, Ping Yein and Cheong, Ai Theng and Ng, Chirk Jenn and Abdullah, Khatijah Lim and Ong, Teng Aik and Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan (2014) Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment. In: SMDM Asia-Pacific Conference, 6-8 Jan. 2014, The Regent Hotel, Singapore. . https://smdm.confex.com/smdm/apm2014/webprogram/Paper8148.html
spellingShingle Lee, Yew Kong
Lee, Ping Yein
Cheong, Ai Theng
Ng, Chirk Jenn
Abdullah, Khatijah Lim
Ong, Teng Aik
Abdul Razack, Azad Hassan
Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title_full Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title_fullStr Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title_full_unstemmed Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title_short Who makes the decision? Malaysian healthcare professionals' views on prostate cancer treatment
title_sort who makes the decision malaysian healthcare professionals views on prostate cancer treatment
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36016/1/36016.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT leeyewkong whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT leepingyein whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT cheongaitheng whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT ngchirkjenn whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT abdullahkhatijahlim whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT ongtengaik whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment
AT abdulrazackazadhassan whomakesthedecisionmalaysianhealthcareprofessionalsviewsonprostatecancertreatment