[Coping with illness in bronchial cancer from the viewpoint of the patients, their relatives and caregivers. A five-level assessment].

The investigation presented in this paper applies multi-level-assessment to emotional state and coping in patients with newly diagnosed bronchogenic carcinoma. Ratings are obtained by the patients themselves, their spouses/children, their physicians, their nurses, and interviewers, independently. Differences seem to override concordances. Patients generally present themselves in a more positive way, i. e. emotionally less disturbed, better adapted, and more successfully coping, than generally perceived by their associates. Discrepancies regarding specific aspects of illness recognition and coping give information about conflicts in both doctor-patient-relationship (e. g. greater amount of trust from the patients' than from the doctors' point of view) and nurse-patient-relationship (nurses claim patients being more aggressive then patients see themselves), as well as social support. Patients and relatives agree in their ratings of certain criteria of adaptation (getting along with the disease, quality of life) and in effective treatment possibilities. On the basis of factor analyses which are computed separately for each rating level, the perceptual structures of the different raters can be elaborated on.