Information-Seeking Behavior Factors Related to Consent for Treatment Decisions in Parents of Children with Cancer

Although it is known that parents and families of children with cancer need information in making decisions about treatment with medical professionals, little is known about the information-seeking behavior of parents of children with cancer. The purpose of this study is to clarify the information-seeking behavior of parents in relation to their consent for treatment decisions. The frequency of use of various medical information sources and other determinants were investigated, and multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate which types of information sources influence parental consent for their children's treatment decisions.The results showed a small but positive influence of attending physicians (β = 1.72, p = .028) and medical institution websites which are belong to their attending physician or not, (β = 0.87, p = .016) on consent for treatment decisions, a negative influence of doctor-authored website (β = -0.8, p = .042) on consent for treatment decisions, and a negative influence of parents' critical communicative health literacy (β = 0.63, p = .003) rather than parental critical health literacy was associated with consent to treatment decisions as a determinant of information seeking behavior. These results suggest that parents who use physician-directed websites may access online information delivered by various doctors and be more cautious about consenting to treatment choices than parents who use the websites of their physicians and medical institutions as information sources. Therefore, medical staff and information professionals should consider that the information-seeking behavior of parents of children with cancer is influenced by personal attributes and that information should be provided in the early stages of diagnosis according to the literacy and educational background of the parents.