Patient Expectations in High‐Risk Abdominal Surgery for Cancer.
Background: Despite the central role of expectations in informed consent and surgical shared decision‐making, patient expectations frequently remain unelicited or underexplored and are often assumed rather than explicitly addressed. Objective: To explore how patients form expectations about high‐ris...
| Published in: | Health Expectations Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 1 - 15 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Aug2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=196480432&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 196480432 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 13696513 EVY jtl: Health Expectations issn: 13696513 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Aug2026 vid: 29 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 196480432 196480432 196480432 10.1111/hex.70764 196480432 ppf: 1 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Patient Expectations in High‐Risk Abdominal Surgery for Cancer. aug: au: Kopecky, Kimberly E. Speer, Jacquelyn E. F. Julson, Janet Abbas, Alizeh Monton, Olivia Johnston, Fabian M. Odom, J. Nicholas affil: Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama,, USA sug: subj: Abdominal Neoplasms Surgery Patient Attitudes Evaluation Attitude to Medical Treatment Evaluation Preoperative Period Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Evaluation Human Male Female Adult Middle Age Aged Aged, 80 and Over Qualitative Studies Semi-Structured Interview Cognition Task Performance and Analysis United States Sociodemographic Factors Descriptive Statistics Thematic Analysis Funding Source Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Aged: 65+ years Aged, 80 & over Male Female ab: Background: Despite the central role of expectations in informed consent and surgical shared decision‐making, patient expectations frequently remain unelicited or underexplored and are often assumed rather than explicitly addressed. Objective: To explore how patients form expectations about high‐risk abdominal surgery for cancer and how preoperative expectations influence the experience of surgical recovery and life after surgery. Design: Qualitative study using semi‐structured interviews informed by cognitive task analysis and analysed using an abductive thematic framework. Setting and Participants: Adults (n = 34) at two U.S. academic hospitals who were either scheduled to undergo, or had recently undergone, high‐risk abdominal surgery for cancer; interviews were conducted preoperatively (52.9%) and postoperatively (47.1%). Results: Analysis of the interviews revealed three overarching themes characterising how patients formed, understood, and experienced expectations around high‐risk cancer surgery. Theme 1: Origin of Expectations‐ Expectation development was dynamic, context‐dependent, and shaped by multiple information sources. Theme 2: The Complexity of Expectations‐ Patients varied widely in how much they wanted to know; expectations were often internally inconsistent and frequently conflated with hopes. Theme 3: Contrasting Anticipated and Actual Recovery After Surgery‐ Postoperative experiences commonly diverged from preoperative expectations, and many patients expressed uncertainty regarding recovery and prognosis, even in medically uncomplicated recoveries. Discussion: The wide variation and inconsistency in patient expectations reflect both the complexity of how patients prepare for high‐risk abdominal cancer surgery and their need to navigate uncertainty in ways that align with their individual preferences, values, and tolerance for information. Mismatches between anticipated and actual postoperative experiences underscore the need for structured, patient‐centred communication strategies that support realistic preparation for surgical recovery. Conclusion: This study provides insight into how patients with cancer form expectations regarding high‐risk abdominal surgery and how these expectations shape preparation for the experience of surgical recovery. Expectations were often incomplete, internally inconsistent, and difficult for patients to articulate, contributing to gaps between anticipated and actual recovery. These findings highlight the need for intentional, patient‐centred approaches to elicit, clarify, and better align patient and clinician expectations in surgical oncology. Future work should evaluate intervention strategies to support this goal. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients participated in in‐depth interviews that form the basis of this study. Caregiver interviews were conducted in parallel as part of a related study but were not included in the present analysis. Patients and/or caregivers were not formally involved in the design of the study or in the analysis of the qualitative data. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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