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Qualitative Health Research
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Hope and Probability: Patient Perspectives of the Meaning of Numerical Information in Cancer Communication

Sally Thorne

University of British Columbia School of Nursing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

T. Gregory Hislop

British Columbia Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Margot Kuo

Elizabeth-Anne Armstrong

University of British Columbia School of Nursing in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Although the complexities inherent in human communication make it a difficult target for empirical investigation and systematic interpretation, it is well recognized that patientprovider communication can have either a powerfully negative or positive influence on the experience of cancer. Drawing on an extensive data set derived from interviews with 200 cancer patients, the authors examine the impact of information provided in numerical form within cancer care communications from the patient perspective. In this context, they present findings related to various uses and abuses of numbers within cancer care communication, and illustrate how numerical information constitutes a specialized communication form with considerable potency for shaping the cancer experience. In particular, accounts of the thematic relationship between numbers and hope, from the perspective of those on the receiving end of cancer care, provide a unique perspective from which to interpret issues of compassion, caring, and informed consent.

Key Words: cancer • communication • physician-patient relations • informed consent

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 16, No. 3, 318-336 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732305285341
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