Abstract:
To identify informational needs of South African women receiving intracavitary brachytherapy
for locally advanced cervical cancer as part of a process to develop guidelines for quality
patient-centred care.
Design: A prospective, qualitative study with a phenomenological approach.
Setting: Brachytherapy Unit, Department Oncology, Universitas Hospital, Bloemfontein, South
Africa.
Participants: Purposive sampling was utilized to recruit patients undergoing brachytherapy for
cervical cancer from July to December 2012.
Main Outcome Measures: Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted, guided by
a theme list. Audio-recorded interviews were conducted in Sesotho, Afrikaans and English by an
unaffiliated, multilingual interviewer. The interviews were transcribed, translated and thematic
analysis performed.
Results: Data saturation was achieved having interviewed 28 participants, aged 30–73 years. Four
themes with sub-themes were identified: (i) informational needs, (ii) patient disposition towards
treatment, (iii) psychological experience and (iv) physical experience. Findings on patients’ informational
needs were the overarching theme and form the focus of this article. These informational
needs included: providing patients with disease- and treatment-related information in their home
language; adequate information concerning possible side-effects, sexual intercourse and pre-treatment
preparation; and providing patients with informative material as standard procedure.
Conclusion: The article has identified women’s informational needs providing a focus for patientcentred
care. Providing patients with sufficient and understandable information could lessen feelings
of fear and anxiety towards treatment delivery. Guidelines with a patient-centred approach
could thus be developed to be used as a tool to assist members of multidisciplinary teams in providing
quality care to this group of women.
