PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY Psycho-Oncology 14: 848–858 (2005) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/pon.946 WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT FACILITATING PATIENT COMMUNICATION IN THE CANCER CARE SETTING? PATRICIA A. PARKER a, *, B. JOYCE DAVISON b , CAROL. TISHELMAN c,d , MICHAEL D. BRUNDAGE e,f,g and the scrn communication team a Department of Behavioral Science, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA b Prostate Cancer, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, Canada c Department of Nursing, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden d Stockholm Sjukhem Foundation, R & D Unit, Stockholm, Sweden e Cancer Research Institute, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada f Department of Oncology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada g Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada SUMMARY Throughout the cancer diagnosis and treatment period, patients interact with multiple healthcare providers. In order to facilitate these communications, researchers have developed interventions primarily for providers, and, more recently, for patients. The aim of this paper is to conduct a critical examination of a sample of the empirical literature regarding current knowledge about the types of interventions that have been designed to facilitate cancer patients’ communication with their healthcare providers. Overall, the empirical literature suggests that some types of patient-based interventions (e.g. prompt sheets, audiotapes, coaching sessions) may be beneficial in specific areas (e.g. increasing the number of questions asked, increased patient satisfaction). However, there are few consistent findings and the outcome measures that have been examined have varied substantially across studies. More controlled studies using carefully chosen outcome variables are needed. Increasing patients’ communication skills so that their goals are met has the potential to positively affect the communication process. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS: communication; patient–physician relations; patient interventions; cancer; oncology INTRODUCTION During the period of diagnosis and treatment for cancer, patients interact and communicate with multiple healthcare providers. Much research has been focused on understanding this important communication. Although many of the empirical studies in the area of healthcare provider–patient communication have been descriptive in nature, a number of investigators have begun to develop and evaluate intervention programs designed to improve the communication process during cancer consultations. Traditionally, these intervention studies have been directed at improving commu- nication through healthcare providers and have most commonly emphasized the teaching of specific communication skills that may help providers interact better with their patients. A discussion of these studies and what constitutes provider competencies is described comprehen- sively in the article by Butler et al. (in press). Although the provider’s role is essential, the provider–patient communication process is reci- procal and interactive, and the patient also has an essential role in the communication. The theore- tical basis of these roles has been described in detail by the Conceptual Framework for Commu- nication proposed by Feldman-Stewart et al. Received 30 July 2004 Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 7 April 2005 *Correspondence to: Department of Behavioral Science, Unit 1330, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 301439, Houston, TX 77230-1439, USA. E-mail: pparker@mdanderson.org