Cancer patient education in Iran: attitudes of health professionals

To investigate about attitudes of health professionals towards the status of cancer patient education in Iran. Material &

The Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer's questionnaire (MASCC), professional version, was used. Seventy-one health professionals (a sample of physicians and nurses) from Iranian Cancer Institute were entered into the study.

Most respondents (54%) said that they tell the real diagnosis to less than 20% of their patients, although they would like to tell more information to patients (85%). When respondents were asked: "What kind of information would you like to tell the patients" the majority pointed out: general information about cancer (45%) and giving pamphlets (20%). When it was asked: "What are the most barriers or reasons that limit cancer patient education?" families request not to tell the patients the truth (18%) and time limitations (16%) were the most stated barriers by the respondents.

The findings of the study suggest that cancer patient education in Iran is very poor and there is an urgent need to develop policy guidelines and educational programs regarding cancer patient education.