Patients’ preferences for delivering bad news in palliative care in Ethiopia: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: One of the major challenges for healthcare professionals relates to awareness of patients’ preferences relative to how and when to break bad news and how much information should be disclosed in the eventuality of a serious medical diagnosis or prognosis. On occasions, a serious medical diagnosis or prognosis is withheld from the patient. There is a scarcity of evidence about cultural preferences regarding breaking bad news in the palliative care setting in Ethiopia. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the surrounding cultural issues to properly convey bad news. The purpose of the study was to explore Ethiopian patients’ cultural preferences for receiving bad news in a palliative care setting. METHODS: A qualitative research approach and nonprobability, purposive sampling method were applied. In-depth interviews were employed to collect data from eight patients who were diagnosed with cancer and cancer with HIV/AIDS during the time of data collection. Thematic analysis was applied to identify themes and subthemes. The data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using ATLAS.ti 22 computer software. RESULTS: The following three themes emerged and are reported in this study: (1) Perceptions about life-threatening illness: religious values and rituals are essential for establishing perspectives on life-threatening illnesses and preferences in receiving bad news. (2) Experiences with life-threatening illness: study participants’ experience with the method of breaking bad news was sad, and they were not provided with sufficient details about their medical condition. Making appropriate decisions, fulfilling the ordinance of religious faith, and avoiding unnecessary costs were outlined as benefits of receiving bad news. (3) Preferred ways of breaking bad news; the findings revealed that incremental, amiable and empathic methods for delivering bad news were preferred. It was suggested that the presence of family members is crucial when receiving bad news. CONCLUSION: Patients choose to be told about their medical conditions in the presence of their family. However, the patient’s needs for receiving bad news were unmet. Patients should be involved in the treatment decision process. Delivery of bad news needs to tailor the preferred methods, cultural values, and religious beliefs. Delivering bad news according to the patients’ preferences helps to fulfil their wishes in palliative care. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-023-01275-5.