Site-Specific Education Using Digital Media to Improve Patients' Understanding of the Radiotherapy Trajectory: An Interventional Study

To assess the effectiveness of a site-specific video educational material in improving patients' understanding and confidence regarding radiotherapy trajectory A quasi-experimental longitudinal pre-test post-test study was conducted at a referral radiotherapy center, from May 2020 to September 2020. It included 52 adult patients admitted for a first course radical radiotherapy. One generic and 6 site-specific (breast, pelvis, head and neck, brain, chest and abdomen and bladder) inhouse production, animated cartoon videos were developed to provide concise overview of the overall patient's trajectory in radiotherapy, with full visual description of the procedures and specific preparation measures. A 14-item questionnaire was designed to assess pre- and post-intervention levels of understanding and confidence of patients, with calculation of and an understanding and confidence score (UCS, range 0-14). The mean (SD) UCS in pre- and post-intervention was 9.36 (2.48) and 11.92 (1.34) out of 14, respectively, indicating a mean increase of 2.57 subsequent to the intervention (P < 0.001). The effect size was large with a Cohen's d = 1.01. Of the 14 dimensions explored, 8 were observed to have remarkable improvement, notably understanding the purpose of the tattoo mark, reason of daily or weekly imaging, and what to expect with radiotherapy. Participants with poor reading ability had greater increase in UCS (ΔUCS = 4.25 vs ≤2.33) and in 5 out of 8 dimensions with remarkable improvement The use of digital educational material in radiation oncology meets the urgent need for providing patients with concise and site-specific information, while sparing extra hospital visits to meet education coordinators during the COVID-19 crisis. Further studies are warranted to assess both the clinical and long-term effectiveness of the educational material, using a longitudinal controlled design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)