The patients’ preferences in breaking bad news: A scoping review

Patients’ preferences in breaking bad news to the patients may vary from one culture and society to another. This study aimed to determine patients' preferences for breaking bad news.

Methods & Materials: 

This scoping review study was conducted on the articles published in databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Proquest, Embase, and Medline (PubMed) up to the end of December 2023. After removing the duplicate results. The titles and abstracts of the articles were reviewed to observe the probable connections with the review question, and the unrelated items were omitted. The original articles, which were published in English entered into the study. The articles that have reported patients’ preferences in emergency settings or parents’ preferences for breaking bad news, were excluded fromthe study. The textual data were extracted fromthe remaining articles and then analyzed using conventional content analysis.

Fifty-nine studies included in this review about the patients’ preferences were classified into four categories: “the right to know what is happening to them”, “receiving emotional support”, “participating in decision-making”, and “observing the requirements of giving the bad news to the patients”. Nonetheless, there were variations in patients' preferences among different backgrounds.

Given the influence of the patient’s background in breaking bad news, the existing solutions inWestern communities may not be practical or completely useful for Eastern. The results of this study can be used to observe patients’ preferences in breaking bad news fromdifferent backgrounds.