The Attitudes of Cancer Patients and Their Families Toward the Disclosure of Terminal Illness

To ascertain the attitude of cancer patients and their families toward disclosure of terminal illness to the patient. We constructed a questionnaire that included demographic and clinical information and delivered it to 758 consecutive individuals (433 cancer patients and 325 families that have a relative with cancer) at seven university hospitals and one national cancer center in Korea. 380 cancer patients and one member from each of 281 families that have a relative with cancer completed the questionnaire. Cancer patients were more likely than family members to believe that patients should be informed of the terminal illness (96.1% v 76.9%; P