PETUPAL

Decisions about the intensity of tumour-specific treatment for patients in the advanced stage of their disease are experienced as challenging by both the patient and the oncologist. Although the active involvement of patients in end-of-life treatment planning has been encouraged by cancer societies for more than a decade, translation into clinical practice remains a challenge. Oncologists often avoid talking about prognosis and forgoing tumor-specific therapies because they see this as one of the most difficult communication tasks. The development of decision aids is a strategy to facilitate patient participation and to support patients and their oncologist in making participatory decisions. By providing evidence-based information, they can help patients formulate their preferences and make decisions together with their family and doctor. Although decision-making aids have proven of value in other complex situations, they do not yet exist for the problem at hand.

The aim of this interdisciplinary joint project is to develop a decision-making aid that supports cancer patients in the advanced stages, their relatives and oncologists in deciding for or against tumor-specific treatment and the integration of palliative therapy in the last six months of life.