Abstract
The purpose of this study was to learn the condition of telling patients with cleft lip and/or palate the name of disease, and to examine the best way to give such information. Questionnaire consisting 26 items, the Yatabe-Guilford personality test, and the Cornell Medical Index test for patients, and 44 items for parents was performed to 64 patients with CL/CP aged from 13 to 27 years old and 73 parents of the patients from Jan.1997 to Feb.2000.
The results were as follows:
(1)The parents recognized informing the name of the disease positively and there were discrepancies between the patients and their parents as to the recognition of informing the name of the disease.
(2)32.8% of the patients wanted to know the reason for seeing a doctor, and 78.0% of them knew it actually, which meant that they did not always want to know the reason.
(3)When the patients wanted to know the name of the disease, they seemed to accept being told the name of the disease more positively than the patients who did not want to know the name (p<.10).
(4)According to the Yatabe-Guilford personality test, the group of the patients belonged to categories B and E, which represented emotional unstability, more than the control group (p<.01), and they also belonged to category D, which represented positive stability, less than the control group (p<.01).
(5)According to the Cornell Medical Index test (CMI) the group of the patients belonged to areas I and II, which represented a high degree of mental health, significantly higher than the contlol group (p<.01).
(6)According to the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES III), the group that had disagreement on being told the name of the disease between the parents and the patients, belonged to the group of 'Extreme' significantly higher than the control group (p<.01).
These findings indicated that patients who want to know the name of their disease should be told it, along with a careful explanation on the treatment planning by parents or medical staff, so that the patients can accept the disease without disturbance.
