Triadic communication with teenagers and young adults with cancer: a systematic literature review - 'make me feel like I'm not the third person'.
systematic_review · Level I
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38367963.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080024 and PMC identifier 10875529.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Clinical communication needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer (TYACs) are increasingly recognised to differ significantly from younger children and older adults. We sought to understand who is present with TYACs, TYACs' experiences of triadic communication and its impact. We generated three research questions to focus this review: (1) Who is present with TYACs in healthcare consultations/communication?, (2) What are TYACs' experiences of communication with the supporter present? and (3) What is the impact of a TYAC's supporter being present in the communication? Systematic review with narrative synthesis. The search was conducted across six databases: Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science and AMED for all publications up to December 2023. Included papers were empirical research published after 2005; participants had malignant disease, diagnosed aged 13-24 years (for over 50% of participants); the research addressed any area of clinical communication. Three independent reviewers undertook full-text screening. A review-specific data extraction form was used to record participant characteristics and methods from each included paper and results relevant to the three review questions. A total of 8480 studies were identified in the search, of which 36 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We found that mothers were the most common supporter present in clinical communication encounters. TYACs' experiences of triadic communication are paradoxical in nature-the supporter can help or hinder the involvement of the young person in care-related communication. Overall, young people are not included in clinical communication and decisions at their preferred level. Triadic communication in TYACs' care is common, complex and dynamic. Due to the degree of challenge and nuances raised, healthcare professionals need further training on effective triadic communication. CRD42022374528.
Medical subject headings
- Neoplasms
- Communication