Objective: 1. to evaluate how often and in which mode Italian breast cancer patients introduced emotional issues during their first oncological visit; 2. to describe oncologists responses to these expressions 3. to identify which factors related to the patient or to clinical interaction might influence the expression of emotional issues.
Methods: The sample was 140 Italian-speaking female patients aged between 18 and 75 years, with a recent diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer at first consultation visit with an oncologist. The consultation visit audio recordings were analysed for the number and type of emotional expressions (VR-CoDES), questions asked and rated in terms of patient-centredness (VR-COPE). Socio-demographic, clinical and personality variables were gathered before the consultation. Clinical variables and oncologists’ evaluations were collected after.
