1. Preferences of melanoma patients to accept adjuvant therapy and toxicity - a qualitative substudy of the GerMelaTox-A project.
- Author
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Janke TM, Moysig L, Blome C, and Kähler KC
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Middle Aged, Male, Aged, Adult, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant adverse effects, Qualitative Research, Quality of Life, Immunotherapy methods, Immunotherapy adverse effects, Patient Acceptance of Health Care psychology, Skin Neoplasms psychology, Skin Neoplasms drug therapy, Melanoma psychology, Melanoma drug therapy, Melanoma therapy, Patient Preference psychology
- Abstract
Purpose: Targeted treatment and immunotherapy, both adjuvant treatment options, come with a certain toxicity and can cause severe side effects. To date, data about the underlying reasons for patients to accept or reject specific types of adjuvant therapy is scarce. Therefore, this study investigates the motives of melanoma patients for tolerating or rejecting adjuvant therapy and its side effects., Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of patients to investigate the underlying reasons for treatment decisions in a quantitative treatment-trade off study. Categorisation was conducted using qualitative content analysis., Results: The 17 participants had a mean age of 55.5 years and 12 were female. The final category system covered three clusters. The cluster "type of therapy and therapy process" described therapy-related aspects that affect acceptability of adjuvant treatments. Prospect of treatment benefit and side effects were important aspects. Route of administration and physician visits should be convenient. The cluster "way of living" described the influence that activities and circumstances of life organisation have on acceptability. Participants wished treatment to affect everyday life as little as possible. Maintaining sufficient quality of life was mentioned to be crucial. The cluster "emotions and feelings" described optimism and hope but also mental strain originating from possible treatment options., Conclusion: Patients in our study indicate high willingness to undergo adjuvant therapy, even when facing toxicity. The evaluation of potential side effects and prospects of treatment benefit is highly individual. Therefore, it is important to consider personal patient preferences to make appropriate and shared decision-making., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: TMJ has no conflict of interest.LM has no conflict of interest.CB has no conflict of interest.KCK serves as consultant to Philogen, BMS, MSD, Sanofi Aventis, Immunocore and received travel grants and speaker fees from Philogen, Pierre Fabre, BMS, MSD, Sun Pharma, Sanofi Aventis, Novartis, Medac and has received research support by Novartis. Competing interests: LM has no conflict of interest. CB has no conflict of interest. KCK serves as consultant to Philogen, BMS, MSD, Sanofi Aventis, Immunocore and received travel grants and speaker fees from Philogen, Pierre Fabre, BMS, MSD, Sun Pharma, Sanofi Aventis, Novartis, Medac and has received research support by Novartis. Ethics approval: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany (D 435/20). Consent to publish: Complete written informed consent was obtained from the patients for the publication of this study., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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