A study conducted in Sweden found that more than 40 percent of widowers in that country whose wives died from cancer four or five years earlier reported they were either never told that their spouse's cancer was incurable, or they heard this information during the last week of her life.
Eighty-six percent of widowers believed next-of-kin should be told immediately when a wife's cancer is incurable, including 71 percent of the men who did not recall being told this information. The study, which is the largest to explore this topic, is being published online July 10 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).
"Our findings suggest that there is room for improvement in the level of communication between healthcare providers and the husbands of women with advanced cancer," said Hanna Dahlstrand, MD, PhD, an oncology resident and researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the study's lead author.
Using the Swedish Cancer Registry, the researchers identified and surveyed 691 men whose wives had died of breast, ovarian, or colon cancer in 2000 or 2001. The widowers were asked whether they were told about the extent of their wives' disease, and if so, when and by whom. They were also asked about their desire to learn such information. The study is part of a larger data collection by Arna Hauksdottir and colleagues, who are investigating men's preparedness for the death of a spouse.