Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Although bladder cancer is much more common in men than in women, female patients with bladder cancer present with more locally advanced tumors and have worse disease-specific outcomes than male patients, even after controlling for biological differences. There is a paucity of research regarding the optimal approach to caring for female patients with bladder cancer in ways that maximize patient satisfaction, preferences, and values.

OBJECTIVE:

We sought to explore patient-defined priorities and areas in need of improvement for female patients with bladder cancer from the patient perspective.

METHODS:

We conducted focus group sessions and semi-structured interviews of women treated for bladder cancer to identify patient priorities and concerns until reaching topic saturation. Transcripts were analyzed thematically.

RESULTS:

Eight patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer and six patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer participated in two focus groups and seven interviews total. Three themes emerged as significantly affecting the care experience: physical impacts, mental health and emotional wellbeing, and the patient-provider interaction. Each theme included patient-defined specific recommendations on approaches to optimizing the care experience for women with bladder cancer.

CONCLUSIONS:

Although most participants were satisfied with the quality of care they received, they identified several opportunities for improvement. These concerns centered around enhancing support for patients’ physical and mental needs and strengthening the patient-provider interaction. Efforts to address these needs and reduce gender disparate outcomes via quality improvement initiatives are ongoing.

中文翻译：

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评估女性膀胱癌患者定义的优先事项

 抽象的

 背景：

尽管膀胱癌在男性中比在女性中更常见，但即使在控制了生物学差异后，女性膀胱癌患者的局部晚期肿瘤也比男性患者更差，并且疾病特异性结果更差。关于如何最大限度地提高患者满意度、偏好和价值观来护理女性膀胱癌患者的最佳方法的研究很少。

 客观的：

我们试图从患者的角度探讨女性膀胱癌患者的患者确定的优先事项和需要改进的领域。

 方法：

我们对接受膀胱癌治疗的女性进行了焦点小组会议和半结构化访谈，以确定患者的优先事项和关注点，直到达到主题饱和。对成绩单进行了主题分析。

 结果：

八名肌层浸润性膀胱癌患者和六名非肌层浸润性膀胱癌患者参加了两个焦点小组，总共进行了七次访谈。出现了三个显着影响护理体验的主题：身体影响、心理健康和情绪健康以及患者与提供者的互动。每个主题都包括患者定义的关于优化膀胱癌女性护理体验的方法的具体建议。

 结论：

尽管大多数参与者对他们所接受的护理质量感到满意，但他们发现了一些改进的机会。这些担忧集中在加强对患者身心需求的支持以及加强患者与提供者的互动。我们正在努力通过质量改进举措来满足这些需求并减少性别差异的结果。