Background: In the practice of oncology, effective communication between physician and patient
is very important. Although many studies have indicated that a large majority of physicians,
especially from Western countries, tell the truth about diagnosis and prognosis, little
is known about attitudes of physicians in Turkey toward truth-telling.
Objective: In this study, we tried to determine the truth-telling practice of physicians and
explore potential related factors with a self-reported questionnaire.
Design: Using a questionnaire, 131 cancer specialists were interviewed during the 15th National
Oncology Meeting in April 2003.
Results: The percentage of physicians who never, rarely, generally, and always prefer truthtelling
about a cancer diagnosis were 9%, 39%, 45%, and 7%, respectively. In univariate logistic
regression analysis for the truth-telling practice, significant variables included "do not
tell" requests from family, experiences from medical training and clinical practice, and medical
specialty. In the multivariate analysis, "do not tell" requests from relatives and medical
training factors retained their significance.
Conclusion: Professional training in breaking bad news is important and is associated with
the self-reported truth-telling practices of physicians.
