Attitudes Toward Breaking Bad News Among Physicians in Türkiye

Türkçe

Objective: In medical communication, bad news is conceptualized as any information that can significantly alter patient’s outlook on their future. Physicians are often the ones responsible for delivering such news, and this process can be emotionally challenging for both patients and doctors. Moreover, attitudes toward breaking bad news and the skills involved in doing so may vary among physicians. This study’s main aim is to investigate physicians’ attitudes toward delivering bad news through conducting the Turkish validity and reliability analysis of the 15-item Breaking Bad News Attitudes Scale (BBNAS). The study also sought to identify the key predictors of physicians’ attitudes on breaking bad news. Method: A total of 203 physicians and senior medical students (111 women, 92 men) working at Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine participated in the research.Results: As a result of the analyses, one item was removed due to low factor loading, and two items were excluded to reduce multicollinearity. The final 12-item Turkish version, consisting of two dimensions (SPIKES Adherence and BBN Training) demonstrated a good model fit. Internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s α=.81 and .82) for the two dimensions indicated that the Turkish form of the scale is reliable. To assess construct validity, correlations were examined with related measures. The scale was found to be positively associated with interpersonal communication competence and general self-efficacy and negatively associated with perceived stress. This study’s results indicated that the Turkish form of BBNAS is a valid and reliable measure for evaluating medical doctors’ breaking bad news attitudes.Conclusion: The results shed light on physicians’ attitudes toward breaking bad news and on the factors that facilitate or hinder these attitudes.