ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5659

RTT - Patient experience and quality of life

ESTRO 2024

and how professionals perceive the impact that side-effects have upon patients. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between professional perception of side-effect impact on HRQoL and underestimated patient outcomes in CROs.

Material/Methods:

Approval was obtained by the Health Research Authority (HRA). Eligible HCPs (n=40), including medical doctors, nurses and allied health professionals from a single centre were invited to participate in an online survey. Eligibility was defined as a currently registered HCP, who manages the care of patients receiving RT or Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) for breast, sarcoma, brain, prostate, lung, and head and neck (H&N) cancer at an enhanced level of practice. The survey was hosted in Microsoft Forms. Participants were asked to identify site-specific RT side-effects using a 4-point response variable (RT or PBT side-effect, cancer related, or other treatment related, both, and not relevant). Participants were then asked which of the previously identified side-effect/s they perceived to have the most impact on HRQoL and given an open text box to respond. Participants were given the option to add side effects which had not been included within the previous questions. Completion of the online survey was implicit of consent. Data were extracted and analysed within Microsoft Excel. Twenty-one participants (53%) responded. The answers were categorised by tumour diagnosis: brain=3, breast=2, H&N=5, lung=3, prostate=4 and sarcoma=4. A variety of answers was given for the perception of impact question, with a range between 2 and 13 different side-effects being identified as being impactful in each site. The perceived most impacting side-effects on HRQoL were: shortness of breath (lung), sexual dysfunction (prostate) and fatigue (brain). The H&N and sarcoma specialists did not have consensus on the most impacting, reporting 11 and 13 different side-effects respectively as being impacting. As a collective HCP’s perceived fatigue (n= 10, 40%), mental health issues (n=5, 20%), and pain (n=4, 16%) to be side-effects that impacted HRQoL most. Another common side-effect that appeared across treatment sites was dissatisfaction with appearance (n=3, 12%). The results for each site specialty can be found in Table 1. Although there is some consistency seen amongst the professionals working within treatment-sites, the variety in responses shows that professional’s perception of the impact that side-effects have on HRQoL differs significantly. This disparity among professionals’ perception of HRQoL may contribute to explaining some differences between CRO’s and PRO’s. There is some agreement that fatigue, mental health issues, pain and dissatisfaction in appearance significantly impact RT patients across multiple treatment-sites. The next stage of this research is to explore patient experience in the form of patient interviews and surveys, in order to understand how patients perceive the impact of RT on their own HRQoL. Exploring the differences between patient and professional perception may aid in the development of future guidance to improve patient outcome collection. Results: Conclusion:

Keywords: side effects, quality of life, perception

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