ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5840

RTT - Education, training, advanced practice and role developments

ESTRO 2024

Radiation Therapists’ (RTTs) attitudes towards Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD)

Aishling Maher, Theresa O'Donovan, Prof. Mark McEntee, Dr. Andrew England, Annemarie Devine

University College Cork, Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy, School of Medicine, Cork, Ireland

Purpose/Objective:

Incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) increases with age, as does cancer incidence 1 . Ageing populations with longer life expectancies mean that an increasing proportion of cancer patients will experience co-morbid ADRD. RT is one of the cornerstones of cancer treatment and is used in the management of approximately 50% of people with cancer 2 . As Radiation Therapists (RTTs) are at the forefront of Radiation Therapy service provision, this study assessed attitudes and perceptions of RTTs working in radiotherapy departments towards people with ADRD attending for RT.

Material/Methods:

Ethics approval was granted by an institutional ethics committee. A questionnaire consisting of three parts, including demographic questions and two validated scales was used. These included the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and Dementia Assessment Scale (DAS). The questionnaire was deployed online via Qualtrics using social media platforms. The target audience was RTTs working in Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe. The questionnaire was published for a five-week period between April-May 2023.

Results:

Fifty-four responses were received. Thirty-three respondents completed the survey in full. RTTs reported their current place of work as Ireland (n=37), the UK (n=10), France (n=1) or India (n=1). Five respondents did not report a place of work. Most participants described themselves as female (74%, n=40), aged between 25-54 years (83.3%, n=45) and white/Caucasian (81.5%, n=44). Of the respondents, 81.5% (n=44) were working clinically as RTTs in a Radiation Therapy department at the time of the survey. Over half of participants had eight or more years’ experience as an RTT (66.7%, n=36). Twenty-seven respondents (50%) agreed that patients with a diagnosis of ADRD are generally suitable for radiotherapy treatment. Three respondents disagreed (5.6%), five respondents provided no answer, and the remainder were unsure (35.2%, n= 19). Seventy-four per cent (n=40) of participants agreed that there is room for improvement in the provision of cancer care, particularly radiotherapy for people who have a diagnosis of dementia. The majority of respondents (57.4%, n=31) were not aware of guidelines in their department on the management of patients with ADRD. Four respondents reported that their department did have guidelines, whilst the remainder were unsure (n=11) or did not answer (n=8). Forty-eight per cent of respondents reported no specific dementia education (n=26). Forty participants who completed the ADKS questionnaire (see Figure 1). Most respondents were aware of the nuanced effect of ADRD on patient autonomy. Most respondents were not aware of the utility of mental exercise in the prevention of ADRD.

For the DAS tool, scores ranged from 62-111 out of a possible 140. Interestingly, just thirteen RTTs agreed or strongly agreed that they feel confident around people with ADRD.