Delivering bad news: patient's perspective and opinions

Krzysztof Sobczak, Katarzyna Leoniuk, Agata Janaszczyk Department of Social Medicine and Social Pathology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland Purpose: The aim of our research was to gain knowledge about patients’ opinions, experiences, and preferences with regard to the way the news is being delivered to them. Materials and methods: Detailed research was carried out on a group of 314 patients using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. Adult responders who had earlier received bad news were questioned about their opinion about the way the doctor acted while delivering bad news and how he did it. Results: Patients, who define the following aspects of their visit as negative/lacking: 1) doctor’s behavior in the moment of delivering bad news, 2) amount of time devoted to the visit, 3) lack of doctor’s attention, 4) usage of medical terminology, 5) doctor’s honesty, 6) emotional and cognitive support from the doctor, more often tend to change the doctor in charge of their therapy or decide to cease the medical treatment. Conclusion: Doctors’ behavior and the way they deliver news to patients are key elements that strongly influence patients’ future therapy. It makes an impact on patient’s decision whether to continue or cease the treatment. In the first case, it also leads the patient to choose to continue the treatment under the guidance of the same specialist or to find another one. The data that we acquired and that we will discuss below will form the basis for editing a communication protocol concerning delivering bad news. It is necessary to create such a protocol in order to improve the quality of communication with patients, especially as regards delivering bad news to them. Keywords: diagnosis, truth disclosure, doctor–patient relationshi

Chosen marketing and public relations techniques used by Ewa Chodakowska in promoting a healthy lifestyle - study on opinions of respondents on the Ewa Chodakowska method

Purpose: To assess the opinions of people, using, or familiar with Chodakowska’s method, on her marketing strategy and public relations. Materials and methods: The research was conducted between the 31st of March and the 4th of April 2014. A questionnaire, consisting of 31 questions was created and uploaded at website. All internet users, interested in Chodakowska’s method, were able to take part in the research. The study group consisted of 1005 respondents. Results; The vast majority of respondents familiar in any way with Chodakowska used her workout programs. The Chi-squared test indicated statistically significant dependency between the place of residence and using Chodakowska’s workout programs. Among the ways of getting to know Chodakowska’s workout programs, friends proved to be the most common and the official Facebook fan page took second place. Among all respondents, who use the workout programs have never used any program, before they learned about Chodakowska and her method. The majority of respondents declare that the popularity of Chodakowska is due to the free of charge YouTube movies, then the regularly updated Facebook fan page, building a community of physically active people. Conclusions: The results of the study it is possible to state that using a customized approach and creating a positive image in relations with society can be adopted in promoting physical activity and a healthy diet. In addition, one can state that when developing future obesity prevention campaigns, the achievements and experience of Chodakowska should be taken into account

Physical activity patterns in third trimester of pregnancy - use of pregnancy physical activity questionnaire in Poland

Introduction. Adverse pregnancy outcomes are less common among physically active women, and children born to such mothers are less likely to be at risk for macrosomia, obesity and metabolic diseases in the future. Objectives. The aims of the study were to establish physical activity (PA) patterns among pregnant women in the third trimester, and to determine the attitudes of prenatal care providers to maternal PA during pregnancy. Materials and method. The study was conducted in 2017 using surveys from the Polish Pregnancy-related Assessment Monitoring System program (Pol-PrAMS). The study included 3,451 postpartum women. The Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to investigate their PA. This part of Pol-PrAMS study was completed by 2,744 postpartum women who were subjected to statistical analysis. Results. Sedentary or light physical activity comprised 75% of the overall PA in the third trimester of pregnancy (mean values of energy expenditure: 67 and 93.3 MET-h/week, respectively). Household or caregiving activities accounted for almost 50% of all activities and were the most common PA types (mean energy expenditure: 105 MET-h/week). Restriction of PA in pregnancy was reported by over 60% of the women, most often due to concerns over proper foetal development. Over 85% of prenatal care providers either did not address the issue of PA with the future mothers at all, or recommended PA restriction. Conclusions. Sedentary and light-intensity PA are the two predominant types of physical activity in the third trimester. The most energy-consuming tasks involve household and caregiving activities. Restriction of activity was reported by the majority of the respondents. Prenatal care providers either did not address the matter of PA in pregnancy or recommended PA restriction