Cancer Patients' Knowledge of and Willingness to Use Agency-Based Services

Abstract

As part of a survey documenting the prevalence of the daily living needs of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy on an outpatient basis, the authors examined patients' knowledge of and willingness to use agency-based services. In addition, they explored the efficacy of classifying the patients' readiness to use agency-based services along the stages of change dimension of a model of behavioral change-the Transtheoretical Model. Most patients receiving chemotherapy who participated in the study reported no vast contact with formal service providers. More than two-thirds of the sample never used a community resource for instrumental or administrative assistance in daily living, nearly half did not know about available services, and 10 to 12 percent said they would be unwilling to use such services in the future. The characteristics of patients who knew about available services or were willing to use services differed as a function of the domain of daily living activities.