An exploration of cancer staff attitudes and values

A multidisciplinary team involved in the care of patients with advanced cancer including physicians, nurses, social workers, physical therapists, nutritionists, clergymen, enterostomal therapists, biostatisticians and administrative personnel were studied over a period of eighteen months. A prospective study of staff attitudes and values about life, disease, and medical care which focused particularly on cancer, cancer treatment and patients with cancer was undertaken. Data were gathered from the staff by written responses to the following instruments: 1) Rokeach Value Survey and 2) a Personal Attitudes Towards Illness Questionnaire. This longitudinal prospective study demonstrated the reliability of scrutinizing individual and collective staff characteristics in a cancer care team. Although most team members had minimal previous contact with clinical research or with patients with advanced cancer, increased exposure did not result in changes in staff attitudes and values over the period of seventeen months.