Oesophageal cancer patients’ general poor prognosis and serious impairments on almost all aspects of quality of life (QoL) makes information to these patients of utmost importance. Yet, oncologists have been found to rarely use available empirically based QoL data to systematically inform their patients, eventhough patients need such information, albeit tailored to their specific preferences. The objective of this study is to devise and test a comprehensive two-sided information support system to enhance the communication between surgical oncologists and patients with oesophageal cancer during the follow-up consultation in the out-patient setting, after patients have undergone potentially curative oesophagectomy. This study intends to create an optimal starting point for the clinical application of such an information support system. The ultimate goal is to investigate the effectiveness of the resulting two-sided information support system in a randomised clinical trial. The proposed study concerns the prerequisite, preparatory work to this end.
ID: 5137713