A Cross-Sectional Survey of Factors Influencing Patients’ Attitudes to Cancer Treatment

Objective: The aim was to identify factors influencing patient motivation for cancer treatment to obtain information for the realization of satisfactory survivorship. Methods: A 44-item questionnaire survey was conducted with cancer patients attending three university hospitals in Japan between September 2015 and January 2016. The relationships of patient motivation for treatment with patient background factors (cancer type, sex, age, performance status, treatment content, and family environment), treating physician's judgment, physical/emotional symptoms, impact on job (work or housework, job performance), and economic status were investigated. Results: Completed questionnaires were collected from 969 patients (response rate, 88.4%).A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that treating physician's judgment to recommend the patient to receive treatment (odds ratio [OR] = 1.88, p = 0.049) and patient concern about disease progression (OR = 1.39, p = 0.007) were significantly correlated with greater patient motivation for treatment. Impact on job (being unable to work or do housework as before) (OR = 0.38, p = 0.011) and economic status (reduced patient income) (OR = 0.39, p = 0.023) were significantly correlated with lower patient motivation for treatment. Conclusion: This is the first study of patients with a wide range of cancer types to explore factors influencing patient motivation for treatment. Four influencing factors were identified. Further research is needed to determine whether supportive measures for these factors are useful in enhancing cancer survivors' motivation for treatment.