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Developing and Evaluating Multimedia Patient Education Tools to Better Prepare Prostate-Cancer Patients for Radiotherapy Treatment (Randomized Study)

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of multimedia educational tools to improve CT planning preparation for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer. Many patients are not prepared when given verbal preparation instructions to have a full bladder and empty rectum for their IMRT and require being rescanned, which results in additional costs for the patient and the hospital. A pamphlet and video outlining the proper preparation for prostate IMRT was created to decrease additional scans and the associated costs, while increasing patient satisfaction. A controlled, randomized experimental group study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the multimedia tools (the video and the pamphlet), as compared to the pamphlet only, in preparing patients for their planning CT appointment. We found no statistical difference between the multimedia group and the pamphlet group in patients’ preparedness for their appointments and the rescanning rate. However, patients in the multimedia group indicated that they felt more prepared about their treatment after watching the video and stated that they would recommend the video to other patients with prostate cancer. Furthermore, patients who had to wait longer for their planning CT appointment felt less prepared by the materials than those with a shorter wait time. We recommend reducing wait times between appointments as much as possible to increase patients’ preparedness for the planning CT. We conclude that providing multimedia treatment information and minimizing wait times increases patients’ feelings of preparedness leading to a more positive treatment experience and reducing costly rescans.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02410291

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Therapy, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Krista Dawdy & Steve Russell

  2. Department of Evaluative Clinical Science, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Katija Bonin

  3. Sunnybrook Canadian Simulation Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Agnes Ryzynski

  4. Manager Patient Education Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Tamara Harth

  5. LMS & eLearning Specialist, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Christopher Townsend

  6. Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5, Canada

    Stanley Liu, William Chu, Patrick Cheung, Hans Chung, Gerard Morton, Danny Vesprini, Andrew Loblaw & Ewa Szumacher

  7. Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Xingshan Cao

Authors
  1. Krista Dawdy
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  2. Katija Bonin
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  3. Steve Russell
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  4. Agnes Ryzynski
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  5. Tamara Harth
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  6. Christopher Townsend
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  7. Stanley Liu
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  8. William Chu
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  9. Patrick Cheung
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  10. Hans Chung
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  11. Gerard Morton
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  12. Danny Vesprini
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  13. Andrew Loblaw
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  14. Xingshan Cao
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  15. Ewa Szumacher
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ewa Szumacher.

Ethics declarations

Research and Ethics Board approval (099-2015) was obtained and the study is a single institutional study registered at ClinicalTrials.gov.

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Dawdy, K., Bonin, K., Russell, S. et al. Developing and Evaluating Multimedia Patient Education Tools to Better Prepare Prostate-Cancer Patients for Radiotherapy Treatment (Randomized Study). J Canc Educ 33, 551–556 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1091-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1091-5

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