Message: Study of Patients' Perception of Physician's Compassion

A Trial on Patient's Evaluation of a Physician Conveying Two Different Messages

The goal of this study is to learn what types of conversations patients prefer to have with their doctor about treatment options and how patients view their doctor's compassion.

If participant agree to take part in the study, basic information will be collected (such as date of birth, date of diagnosis, sex, and religion). Participant will also complete questionnaires about any symptoms they may be having, how hopeful they are, how they are accepting the disease, their trust in the medical profession, and how they like information to be delivered to them.

After completing the questionnaires, they will be randomly assigned (as the roll of dice) to one of 4 groups.

Regardless of which group they are in, they will watch 2 short videos that show actors portraying a doctor and patient having a conversation about treatment options in a clinical setting. Both videos will discuss the same material, but the order of the videos and the actors in the videos will be different for each group. Both videos are about 4 minutes long.

After watching each video, the participant will complete 3 questionnaires about the doctor in the video. It should take about 38 minutes to watch both videos and to complete all of the questionnaires.

After they have watched both videos, they will be asked to choose which doctor they preferred and to briefly explain the reasons why they chose that doctor.

Length of Study:

Participant will be off study after they have completed the last questionnaire.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosis of advanced cancer, defined as locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic disease
2. Patients treated as outpatients by the Supportive and Palliative Care team.
3. Age >/= 18 years-old
4. English speaking
5. Normal cognitive status as determined by the interviewer based on the ability to understand the nature of the study and consent process.

Exclusion Criteria:

1) Patients suffering from a severe psychiatric disorder or condition that would significantly interfere with study participation, as determined by the Principal Investigator or by the attending palliative care physician.