Student’s reasoning for and against informing the 12-year-old patient of her prognosis and the frequency of their occurrence at each survey point
| Reason given for telling (theme) | Before year 1 | End year 1 | End year 3 | End year 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional consensus based | |||||
| It is her right to know | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 22 |
| She is competent | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
| Importance of honesty/trust | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| She is the patient, not the parents | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Doctor’s duty to inform her | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Non-professional consensus based | |||||
| Negative effect if she finds out/she will work it out | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| In her best interests | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| But tell parents you are going to inform her | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| She can live with the knowledge | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Reasons given for not telling | |||||
| Parents know her best | 9 | 13 | 7 | 16 | 45 |
| Enjoy time left/quality of life | 15 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 35 |
| She is not competent | 12 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 33 |
| But if she asks! | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 24 |
| Respect parents’ wishes | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| Negative effect on parents | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 19 |
| Negative effect on Sunitha | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 17 |
| But convince parents to tell her | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| She will work it out | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| What good will it do? | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| Parents have her best interests at heart | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Parents’ right to decide/legal guardians | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| I agree with their decision | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| As long as they are thinking of Sunitha | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| From personal experience | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Miracles can happen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Arrange counselling for parents | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |