ArticleBMJ open2014
'Conditional candour' and 'knowing me': an interpretive description study on patient preferences for physician behaviours during end-of-life communication.
Article in BMJ open, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Advance care planning: A systematic review about experiences of patients with a life-threatening or life-limiting illness.Palliative medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Influences on Care Preferences of Older People with Advanced Illness: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2018Pooled it
- Choosing how to decide: empowering patients for shared decision-making in end-of-life care.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2026Article
- A multi-country study to co-design and evaluate digital educational resources to support conversations about ending fertility treatment.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- "I Can Remember Thinking, Like Almost Wishing, That the Injuries Would Have Been Worse, Because Then I Wouldn't Be Questioned": A Qualitative Study on Women's Experience of Accessing Healthcare for Intimate Partner Violence-Related Brain Injury.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- What is the appropriate timing for advance care planning according to patients and their relatives? A scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Patients' Perspectives on Breast Reconstruction in Sub-Saharan Africa.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Older Adults' Experiences and Expectations of Doctor-Patient Interactions During Early Hospital Care.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Dissemination innovation: Using found poetry to return study results to patients and partners facing cancer.PEC innovation · 2024Article
- Advantages, barriers, and cues to advance care planning engagement in elderly patients with cancer and family members in Southern Thailand: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Psychometric properties of Persian version of advance care planning questionnaire among older adults in Iran.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- A qualitative exploration of allied health providers' perspectives on cultural humility in palliative and end-of-life care.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Advanced directives' knowledge among Portuguese palliative patients and caregivers: do the sociodemographic factors influence it? A cross-sectional survey.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Knowledge exchange sessions on primary health care research findings in public libraries: A qualitative study with citizens in Quebec.PloS one · 2023Article
- A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Virtual Reality in the Preservice Training of Nursing Staff in Isolation Wards.Computers, informatics, nursing : CIN · 2022Article
- What does it mean to be the main caregiver to a terminally ill family member in Lithuania?: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Prognostic disclosure in cancer care: a systematic literature review.Palliative care and social practice · 2022Review
- Communication at the End of Life.Journal of hospice and palliative care · 2021Review
- Putting the Patient First: A Scoping Review of Patient Desires in Canada.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo understand patients' preferences for physician behaviours during end-of-life communication.
methodsWe used interpretive description methods to analyse data from semistructured, one-on-one interviews with patients admitted to general medical wards at three Canadian tertiary care hospitals. Study recruitment took place from October 2012 to August 2013. We used a purposive, maximum variation sampling approach to recruit hospitalised patients aged ≥55 years with a high risk of mortality within 6-12 months, and with different combinations of the following demographic variables: race (Caucasian vs non-Caucasian), gender and diagnosis (cancer vs non-cancer).
resultsA total of 16 participants were recruited, most of whom (69%) were women and 70% had a non-cancer diagnosis. Two major concepts regarding helpful physician behaviour during end-of-life conversations emerged: (1) 'knowing me', which reflects the importance of acknowledging the influence of family roles and life history on values and priorities expressed during end-of-life communication, and (2) 'conditional candour', which describes a process of information exchange that includes an assessment of patients' readiness, being invited to the conversation, and sensitive delivery of information.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that patients prefer a nuanced approach to truth telling when having end-of-life discussions with their physician. This may have important implications for clinical practice and end-of-life communication training initiatives.
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