Informing cancer patient based on his type of personality: the avoidant patient.

Imparting bad news to a cancer patient is considered an arduous task, but it seems to be facilitated by the use of the empathic approach. Indeed, doctors who are trained to adhere to a cancer patient informing protocol argue that the hardest step to take is the empathic approach. The usual questions asked are: To tell the diagnosis or not? How much information should we give? Should the patient know or has the right not to know? Is it possible to determine who should say, what, when, and how. The aim of this article was to describe the avoidant character or type of personality, so that any physician can make a diagnosis and tailor the information strategy to the patient's needs. As method of research was used the qualitative method through groups with doctors and nurses, while research within groups lasted for 5 years. The degree of informing the avoidant personality in the range "minimal - small - medium - large - very large" is : The degree of denial varies between "small" and "medium", while the degree of informing varies between "medium" and "small" in order to reach "large" later. Informing the family: The patient reacts to a common approach with the family as he is concerned about inflicting a blow to his image.