Do European GPs involve family members when a patient gets cancer? – Plans for a European multicentre study.

Ilze Skuja, Emmanouil Smyrnakis, Krzystof Buczkowski, Dimitra Iosifina Papageorgiou, Zlata Ozvacic, Marija Petek Ster, Michael Harris, Mette Brekke

Keywords: Family medicine; General practitioners; Cancer; Family support

Background:

A cancer diagnosis is a life-altering experience for the patient and also for the patient’s family members. Although GPs play an important role throughout the disease trajectory of cancer patients, there is limited knowledge about whether and how GPs actively involve their cancer patients’ family members.

Research questions:

Do GPs across European countries actively involve family members when one of their patients is diagnosed with cancer, and if so, how and why?

Method:

This is a multicentre online survey of GPs in at least 20 European countries, asking how often they involve their cancer patients’ families, as well as when, how, and why this happens.
We will use thematic analysis to code and organize the data into themes. The questionnaire has been successfully piloted by 15 GPs in five countries.

Results:

We will present the final study protocol and the questionnaire.

Conclusions:

This study will provide evidence of GPs’ views on involving cancer patients’ families and their views on the factors that affect this involvement.

Points for discussion:

What methods are best suited to multi-country, multi-language qualitative research?

How can we use the results of this study to change clinical practice?

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