A randomized patient education trial investigating treatment-related distress and satisfaction with the use of an at-home gynecologic brachytherapy educational video.

BACKGROUND

Physician explanation of gynecologic brachytherapy can be overwhelming or induce patient anxiety, and may be time-constrained given clinical limitations. We report the first randomized trial of an educational video intervention in gynecologic brachytherapy on patient-reported outcomes.

METHODS

Between February 2020 and January 2022, 80 gynecologic cancer patients prescribed brachytherapy were randomly assigned to either standard informed consent (Arm A) or a supplemental 16 min brachytherapy educational video (https://vimeo.com/403385455/d0716e3cc8) via the internet (Arm B). Primary outcome was treatment-related distress (National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) distress scale scored 0 (no distress) to 10 (maximum distress)). Secondary outcome was patient satisfaction (summated Likert-scale scored 11-55). Surveys were administered at baseline, after first treatment, and prior to brachytherapy completion.

RESULTS

All patients completed the prescribed brachytherapy. In Arm B, 19/40 (48%) patients and 10/40 (25%) patients' family/friends viewed the video. For patients that completed all surveys (Arm A n=29, Arm B n=28), there was no difference between arms in the sociodemographic, clinical, or treatment variables. Distress scores were low at baseline (Arm A median 4, Arm B median 4, p=0.65) and there was no detectable change in distress between arms on surveys 1 and 2 (β 0.36, p=0.67) or surveys 1 and 3 (β -1.02, p=0.29) in multivariable analysis. Satisfaction scores were high at baseline (Arm A median 54, Arm B median 54.5, p=0.64) and there was no detectable change in satisfaction between arms on surveys 1 and 2 (β 0.22, p=0.93) or surveys 1 and 3 (β 0.63, p=0.85) in multivariable analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients randomized to an educational video tool for gynecologic brachytherapy, approximately 50% of the cohort and 25% of the cohort's family/friends used the video. Overall, patients had low distress scores and high satisfaction scores with no significant differences between the standard and video intervention arms. Further work is needed to understand factors contributing to gynecologic brachytherapy anxiety.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04363957.

Informations de copyright

© IGCS and ESGO 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: DB received honorarium from Varian Medical Systems outside the submitted work. DR received honorarium from Vision RT and Radformation outside the submitted work. DS serves as a consultant for Merit Medical Inc and Varian Medical Systems outside the submitted work. JM serves as a consultant for Astra Zeneca, NRG Oncology, GOG Foundation, Varian Medical Systems, Primmune, Merck; serves as co-chair for NRG Oncology Cervix Co-Chair; serves as board member for GOG Foundation outside the submitted work. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.