Patients experience communicating with nurses in cancer care settings in Saudi Arabia and its impact on their satisfaction with nursing care: a mixed methods study

Background: Patient-centred communication is an approach that considers patient’s values and needs, supports good patient-clinician relationships, provides information about their illness, and involves them in decisions. Patient-centred communication is considered the gold standard in cancer care; however, no study has attempted to measure how communication experiences influence patient satisfaction with nursing in people with cancer in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A concurrent mixed method design was used to measure and explain the influence of communication experiences on patient satisfaction with cancer nursing care in Saudi Arabia. Patient-centred communication (PCC-36) and satisfaction with nursing (SNQ-10) questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data, while in-depth interviews were used to collect qualitative data. Data were collected simultaneously and analysed separately. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Both analysed data were integrated to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research problem. Findings: Overall, patients reported that they were satisfied with their cancer nursing care. Patient communication experiences regarding exchanging information with nurses, fostering healing relationships, and enabling patient self-management were significant predictors of patient satisfaction. Patients felt that language was a barrier to verbal communication with non- Saudi nurses, but they were more polite, kind, respectful, and experienced in non-verbal communication. In contrast, gender was the most significant barrier to communication with Saudi nurses. Patients felt that more training and education was necessary for cancer care nurses to improve nurse-patient communication and overcome identified communication barriers.