Discussion
CIM, cancer, ’
ONCOLOGY, CANCER
Oncology physicians in the KOKON-KTO training group reported significantly less perceived stress after all consultations compared to the control group who only provided the KOKON-KTO information leaflet to their cancer patients. Regarding the perceived consultation skill competency measured after each consultation, no significant differences were found; however, oncology physicians receiving KOKON-KTO training scored lower on all items (less overburden, tension, and discomfort with the consultation situation) than control physicians. Oncology physicians in the intervention group were more confident in conversations and less likely to avoid CIM conversations. According to the qualitative data, the oncology physicians felt competent and well prepared for a conversation on CIM and for only providing the information leaflet, even though the latter felt somewhat impersonal.The self-reported quantitative data of the patients in our study that have been published elsewhere support these findings. Patients who received the KOKON-KTO consultation exhibited higher levels of satisfaction in the group [In a previous pilot study by Bloedt et al. [In a study by Hayward et al., a complementary medicine practice guideline also led to positive results for health care providers, including oncologists (improvement in self-reported CIM knowledge and readiness to answer cancer patients’ questions about CIM) [The oncology physicians in the control group in our study also received a short intervention and were introduced to providing an information leaflet about reputable websites on CIM. The majority of patients used the recommended websites, and the qualitative results showed that the oncology physicians found it helpful to use these resources. Sharing information leaflets might be a suitable alternative that is easy to implement in everyday care for oncology physicians who want to give their patients a helpful introduction to CIM, but also want to have more time for direct conversations on other topics [In our study, we used a blended learning method to train physicians. A review showed that it remains uncertain whether e‐learning alone improves or reduces health professionals’ skills [In our study, we also measured how attitudes about the effectiveness and safety of CIM therapies changed after completing the e-learning. Oncology physicians displayed changes in the rated effectiveness and safety of most CIM therapies after participating e-learning. However, CIM therapies were rated as being effective and safe by most oncology physicians prior to the e-learning. Nutrition, physical activity, yoga, and acupuncture are the therapies that were mostly rated as effective and safe after e-learning. Patients’ expectations of CIM play a role in the treatment outcome [To our knowledge, this is the first study using a standardized framework [Our study needs to be considered exploratory, and we did not measure effects on a single primary outcome. We involved a structured consensus approach for finding suitable outcomes for measuring effects [We did not video record the consultations based on experiences from a previous study [