ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2934

Interdiscplinary - Other

ESTRO 2024

represented (27 individuals). Regarding education, the majority had completed secondary vocational education (33.8%), with 33.5% having higher education.

One key theme was patient preferences for SDM. The central question assessed whether patients wanted to make decisions jointly with their physician. Of the 1,769 respondents, 58.8% expressed a preference for shared decisions at all times, and 29.6% usually favored it, while 11.6% either did not want it or were uncertain about it. Reasons for wanting shared decisions included a sense of ownership over their bodies (1,098 respondents), a desire for more clarity about their health and disease (1,034 respondents), and the fit with their personal lives (743 respondents). Those who preferred not to share decisions cited a desire for autonomy (11 respondents), and to want make the choice by themselves. In addition to patient preferences, we inquired about their experiences with SDM at Maastro. Our findings revealed that 77.0% did not get the opportunity to participate in making a treatment choice, while 23.0% could actively participate in the decision-making process. When we analyzed this by tumor type, head and neck cancer patients most often experienced the ability to make a choice (29.7%), followed by prostate (25.8%) and breast cancer patients (22.9%). Of the 407 patients who felt they could make a choice, 347 indicated that they discussed treatment options with their radiation oncologist. 91.4% felt that their personal circumstances were considered in the decision, with 76.7% saying it was extensively considered, and 14.7% indicating partial consideration. However, it is notable that almost half (43.5%) were presented with only one treatment option. This trend held across tumor groups, except for rectal cancer, where 75.0% of patients were presented with a single choice.

Conclusion:

This survey showed that 88.4% of the patients indicated wanting to participate in making a choice for further treatment, which is comparable to the results of the Dutch Cancer Patient Federation's reporting, in which 94% of patients indicated that they wanted to participate in decision-making. However, only 23.0% of Maastro’s patients were offered the option to participate in decision-making, indicating a significant gap between desired and experienced SDM. This is lower than the results of the Dutch Cancer Patient Federation,’s study, in which 46% indicated that they could not participate in decision-making. A likely factor in this is that the Dutch Cancer Patient Federation's survey was not RT-specific, and that RT is unique in that many choices are already made before patients come to an RT department. These data serve as a good base to warrant targeted efforts to improve implementation of SDM in our clinic.

Keywords: Shared decision making, patient preferences

References:

Kuijpers, M. M. T., van Veenendaal, H., Engelen, V., Visserman, E., Noteboom, E. A., Stiggelbout, A. M., May, A. M., de Wit, N., van der Wall, E., & Helsper, C. W. (2022). Shared decision making in cancer treatment: A Dutch national survey on patients’ preferences and perceptions. European Journal of Cancer Care, 31(1), e13534. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13534