Table 1 Study aims

Aim 1.

To richly characterize the dynamics and quality of patient-clinician-companion interactions in routine cancer care consultations by documenting the frequency, duration, and content of conversations about key issues that are important to patients in their care.

1a.

To describe the frequency, duration and content of routine cancer consultations surrounding key challenging topics in the clinical dialogue.

1b.

To examine in-depth the fundamental psycho-social dynamics of deliberations that occur between patients and clinicians during routine cancer care consultations.

1c.

To assess the comprehensiveness of these discussions pertaining to key elements of informed decision-making.

1d.

To assess the degree of content concordance between topics raised in the recorded conversations and what is documented in the medical record for each of the key topics.

Aim 2.

To identify key characteristics of cancer consultation participants and dialogue that influence subsequent clinical actions and short term outcomes.

2a.

To identify clinician characteristics associated with the discussion of topics in the key topic list raised during a routine cancer consultation.

2b.

To identify patient clinical, demographic, and psychosocial characteristics associated with the discussion of topics in the key topic list raised during a routine cancer consultation.

2c.

To determine if the patient-centeredness of patient-clinician dialogue predicts which topic areas are discussed and the subsequent decisions that are made in a patient’s care across English and Spanish-speaking (and mixed) care contexts.