How do you tell parents whose child has cancer that the treatment has failed: A qualitative study on pediatric oncologists’ practices

Abstract

Announcing drug resistance is complex for pediatric oncologists because they have to provide a substantial amount of medical information while taking a major emotional impact on the parents into account. This study aimed to understand how these announcements are currently conducted and how pediatric oncologists adapt the information given to each family in situations where there is resistance to treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 pediatric oncologists (66.7% women, aged 44.7 years on average). Interviews were audio-recorded and a thematic content analysis was conducted. Announcements of drug resistance are stressful, as they are not well codified, difficult to anticipate, and pediatric oncologists have many issues about how best to behave and which words to choose. The majority of them believe that the severity, or even the incurability of the disease, and the offer of a therapeutic alternative are essential components of the information to pass on. Pediatric oncologists describe how they adapt their communication to each family, particularly in relation to parents’ questions, and also to their reactions during the announcement. They also need to adapt to the prior acquaintance they may have with the families, and to previous exchanges. Finally, pediatric oncologists acknowledge their subjectivity when estimating the parents need in terms of information. Understanding the course of these announcements gives us another point of view at the issues involved in this announcement. Proposals to support pediatric oncologists in this difficult moment can be suggested: communication support tool, work in pairs and discussion group.

Keywords:

• Breaking bad news
• communication
• drug resistance
• pediatric cancer
• pediatric oncologists

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the pediatric oncologists who agreed to participate in our study, and Léonore Robieux for her help in setting up the research.

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest in connection with this study to report.

Notes

1 The data that supports the findings of this study is available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was performed with the financial support from the SIRIC 2018-2022: INCa-DGOS-Inserm_12554. This work was supported by French National Cancer Institute.