Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany.
Department of Otolaryngology, Südharz Klinikum Nordhausen, Nordhausen, Germany.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2022 Oct;148(10):2707-2715. doi: 10.1007/s00432-021-03857-3. Epub 2021 Nov 23.
This survey assesses cancer patients' etiological concepts, lifestyle choices, use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and self-efficacy, as well as associations between those. It aims to find patterns which may facilitate communication and understanding between patients and physicians.
353 oncological patients attending lectures on CAM answered a questionnaire. Correlations were examined and an exploratory factor analysis conducted to identify comprehensive lay-etiological concepts among a list of potential carcinogenic factors.
Patients considered scientifically proven agents as well as other non-carcinogenic influences to be responsible for their disease. An exploratory factor analysis yielded vague indications of possible underlying concepts but factors tend to include items that do not fit the pattern in terms of content. Higher self-efficacy correlated with healthy diet and sports, but not with use of CAM. No conclusive correlations emerged between lay-aetiological concepts and most other variables, but we found a tendency for higher self-efficacy among patients who assigned higher carcinogenic effects to tobacco and lower carcinogenic effects to fasting and physical trauma.
Interest in CAM can arise for many reasons that are not necessarily related to self-efficacy. Lay-aetiological concepts of cancer differ significantly from scientific ones. They are complex and presumably highly individualistic. Their connection to use of CAM methods, lifestyle choices and self-efficacy should be explored in more detail. Patient information and communication with clinicians need to address cancer patients' individual aetiological concepts to further patient's understanding not only of their diagnosis but also of the treatment as well.
本调查评估了癌症患者的病因概念、生活方式选择、对补充和替代医学（CAM）的使用以及自我效能感，以及它们之间的关联。其目的是找到可能促进患者和医生之间沟通和理解的模式。
353 名参加 CAM 讲座的肿瘤患者回答了一份问卷。检查了相关性，并进行了探索性因素分析，以确定潜在致癌因素列表中综合的外行病因概念。
患者认为已被科学证明的药物以及其他非致癌因素对他们的疾病负有责任。探索性因素分析仅初步表明可能存在潜在概念，但这些因素往往包含与内容不符的项目。较高的自我效能感与健康饮食和运动有关，但与使用 CAM 无关。外行病因概念与大多数其他变量之间没有明确的相关性，但我们发现，将吸烟的致癌作用归因于更高，将禁食和身体创伤的致癌作用归因于更低的患者，其自我效能感更高。
对 CAM 的兴趣可能有多种原因，不一定与自我效能感有关。癌症的外行病因概念与科学概念有很大的不同。它们复杂且推测是高度个体化的。应更详细地探讨它们与 CAM 方法的使用、生活方式选择和自我效能感之间的联系。患者信息和与临床医生的沟通需要解决癌症患者的个体病因概念，以便不仅让患者更好地了解他们的诊断，还能让他们更好地了解治疗方案。
