ArticlePatient education and counseling2018
Fatalism and educational disparities in beliefs about the curability of advanced cancer.
Article in Patient education and counseling, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The relationship between fears of cancer recurrence and patient age: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2020Pooled it
- Perceptions of Need for Palliative Care in Recently Hospitalized Patients With Systolic Heart Failure.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2021Trial
- Associations of Caregiver-Oncologist Discordance in Prognostic Understanding With Caregiver-Reported Therapeutic Alliance and Anxiety.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2020Trial
- Willingness to bear adversity and beliefs about the curability of advanced cancer in older adults.Cancer · 2019Trial
- Preference for Palliative Care in Cancer Patients: Are Men and Women Alike?Journal of pain and symptom management · 2018Trial
- Kidney-therapy decision-making among older adults and caregivers: treatment beliefs, prognostic information, and health priorities.BMC nephrology · 2025Article
- The correlation between anger/agitation and other factors including spousal care in home-dwelling older adults with advanced cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- Accurate prognostic awareness is associated with increased emotional distress in Latino patients with advanced cancer.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Correlates of Perceived Illness Severity and Terminality in Advanced Lung and Prostate Cancer.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2025Article
- The negative association of low subjective socioeconomic status with future orientation: the protective role of low fatalism.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Application of Terror Management Theory to End-Of-Life Care Decision-Making: A Narrative Literature Review.Omega · 2024Review
- Breast Cancer Worry in U.S. Female First-degree Relatives: Moderating Role of Daily Spiritual Experiences.Journal of religion and health · 2023Article
- Association of Prognostic Understanding With Health Care Use Among Older Adults With Advanced Cancer: A Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Associations between Fatalistic Cancer Beliefs and Cancer-Screening Behaviors in Chinese American Immigrant Women.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2021Article
- Global Perspectives on Palliative Care for Cancer Patients: Not All Countries Are the Same.Current oncology reports · 2021Review
- Educational Disparities in COVID-19 Prevention in China: The Role of Contextual Danger, Perceived Risk, and Interventional Context.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Patient-hematologist discordance in perceived chance of cure in hematologic malignancies: A multicenter study.Cancer · 2020Observational
- Physician and Patient Characteristics Associated With More Intensive End-of-Life Care.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2019Article
- Beliefs About Advanced Cancer Curability in Older Patients, Their Caregivers, and Oncologists.The oncologist · 2019Article
- Patients' perspectives on dialysis decision-making and end-of-life care .Clinical nephrology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveUnderstanding socioeconomic disparities in the care of patients with incurable cancer is a high priority. We hypothesized that patients without a high school education are more likely to believe that they could be cured and we explored the role of fatalism.
methodsWe studied 977 patients with advanced, incurable cancer. Two logistic regression analyses were conducted. Model One examined the effect of education on beliefs about curability. Model Two added fatalism.
resultsThe significant association between having less than a high school education and the belief that advanced cancer can be cured (OR=2.55; 95% CI: 1.09-5.96) in Model One was attenuated by 39% and rendered nonsignificant in Model Two. Fatalism was associated with the belief that advanced cancer can be cured. Whites were less likely to believe they could be cured than Blacks and Asians/Pacific Islanders. Beliefs about curability were not associated with income or insurance status.
conclusionsPeople who do not complete high school are more likely to believe that their advanced cancer is curable, in part because they are more likely to hold fatalistic worldviews. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Interventions to help oncologists care for patients with fatalistic beliefs could mitigate socioeconomic disparities in end-of-life care.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.