Seminars

PRESENTER INFORMATION

ABSTRACT: 

Patient-centered care and patient empowerment require patients to become informed about medical tests and treatments. We examined how patients become informed in the context of ovarian cancer genetic testing (GT). We interviewed 21 ovarian cancer patients and survivors who had GT as part of the treatment process and analyzed the transcripts using the qualitative content analysis method to understand their information practices around cancer GT. We found that patients' information practices showed three distinct styles: passive, semi-active, and active. Patients with the three styles differed in their information-seeking mode, information sources utilized, information assessment, and information use. Guided by the social ecological model, we identified multiple levels of factors, including personal, interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal, acting as motivators or barriers to patients' information practices. We also reflected on the design of interventions and strategies to promote patient access to GT-related information.