Health Information Preferences and Curability Beliefs Among Patients With Advanced Cancer

This chapter provides an overview of prognostic understanding in patients with advanced cancer. It reviews how the construct has been defined and measured historically, including current research on the multidimensional nature of prognostic understanding. It further highlights the importance of prognostic understanding for patients and their loved ones. Specifically, this chapter reviews the relationship between prognostic understanding and psychosocial outcomes, as well as the role of prognostic understanding in patient health information preferences, patient-provider communication, and healthcare decision-making at the end of life. It provides information on current communication practices and recent interventions to improve disclosure of prognostic information. Lastly, cultural variations in health information preferences and prognostic understanding are discussed, along with future directions for research and clinical practice.

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ASIAN OLDER ADULTS’ ONLINE AND OFFLINE HEALTH INFORMATION PREFERENCES AND BEHAVIORS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1535 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S412-S412

Author(s):

Bo Xie ◽

Kristina Shiroma

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Decision Making ◽

Ethnic Minority ◽

Health Information ◽

Survey Data ◽

National Study ◽

Information Preferences ◽

Internet Users ◽

And Behaviors ◽

Older Chinese

Abstract Older adults living in Asia or of Asian origin have unique preferences for information that require special attention. This symposium focuses on the health information preferences and behaviors of Asian older adults. Song et al. investigated the relationship between Internet use and perceived loneliness among Older Chinese using from survey data collected in the 2015 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a national study involving 12,400 households in Mainland China. Multiple regression results suggest that older Chinese Internet users perceived significantly less loneliness compared with their age peers who were non-Internet users. Zhang et al. investigated the role of information and communication technologies in supporting antiretroviral therapy (ART)-related knowledge seeking among older Chinese with HIV. Their cross-sectional survey data were collected from 2012 to 2013 in Guangxi, China. The results suggest that less than 5% of the participants sought HIV-related information via computers. Patients less knowledgeable about ART were more likely than those more knowledgeable to consult medical professionals about the disease via cell phones. Shiroma et al. report findings of a systematic literature review conducted in spring 2019 that examined Asian ethnic minority older adults’ preferences for end-of-Life (EOL) information seeking and decision making. The results suggest Asian ethnic minority older adults are understudied in the literature on EOL information and decision making, especially in terms of their unique cultural contexts. Du et al. examined how health information obtained from different types of social networks affect osteoporosis self-management behaviors among older White and Asian women.

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