Breast Cancer, Gastro-intestinal Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, Lung Cancer
Conditions
Keywords
Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Brief summary
This study will test the impact of newly created and available symptom management patient education brochures on symptom burden \[measured via the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS)\], health-related quality of life \[measured by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-30)\], patient satisfaction with care \[measured by the Princess Margaret Hospital Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PMH/PSQ-MD 29) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Patient Satisfaction with Radiation or Chemotherapy (EORTC PatSat35 RT/CT)\], self-efficacy, and knowledge at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada. These brochures are designed for oncology patients in order to provide a response to symptom screening and are now a standard part of care. Symptom screening occurs at each visit as patients are required to fill out ESAS, that asks about their experience with the occurence and severity of symptoms. The intent of the patient brochures are to acknowledge the screen, validate the symptom and provide knowledge of self-management strategies for symptoms. The brochures also provide information to patients about when and how to seek further help from their oncology team. The hope is that patients will experience a useful response to their screen with all levels of symptoms-from 0-10 in severity It is hypothesized that the addition of patient education symptom management pamphlets on 7 of the symptoms measured by ESAS (appetite, nausea and vomiting, depression, anxiety, fatigue, dyspnea and pain) will provide new and meaningful information which will build knowledge, validate the patient's experience of the symptom, lead to increased satisfaction with care, improved self efficacy in managing and accessing help for the symptom and therefore improved health related quality of life.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALInstructed to read patient education pamphlets
The intervention in this study is the administration of patient education pamphlets and instructions to read them. Half of all patients who participate in this study will be required to read pamphlets on symptoms that are relevant to them (i.e. symptoms that they are experiencing). Subsequent to reading pamphlets, patients will complete study questionnaires to assess their impact.
Sponsors
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* receiving treatment at the Odette Cancer Centre or Breast Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital * over the age of 18 * English-speaking and able to read and complete a survey in English
Exclusion criteria
(patients will be withdrawn from study in the event that...): * The patient is thought to be at risk to self or others, or be in need of immediate psychiatric assessment, in which case the patient will be referred urgently for assessment with psychosocial oncology or department of psychiatry * The patient wishes to discontinue the study * The patient is noted to be cognitively impaired during the course of the study such that he cannot complete a questionnaire reliably or physically impaired such that it is too burdensome
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impact of Patient Pamphlets on knowledge | approx. 6 months for data collection | Participants who are asked to read patient education pamphlets on symptoms will complete our survey subsequent to reading which test their knowledge about pamphlets. We will be about to conclude later whether reading the pamphlets was correlated with greater knowledge when compared to the control group who did not read the pamphlets. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impact of patient education pamphlets on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) | approx. 6 months for data collection | This study will also assess whether the intervention group (that read the pamphlets) differed from the control group (who did not read the pamphlets) in terms of health-related quality of life. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impact of patient pamphlets on self-efficacy | approx 6 months for data collection | This study will assess whether the intervention group (who read the patient education pamphlets) differed from the control group (that did not read the pamphlets) in terms of self-efficacy. More specifically, this study will evaluate self-efficacy in terms of patient confidence in managing their symptoms. |
| Impact of patient education pamphlets on patient satisfaction with care | approx. 6 months for data collection | This study will evaluate whether the intervention group (who read patient education pamphlets) differed from the control group (who did not), in terms of patient satisfaction with care. We predict that patients who read the education pamphlets will be more satisfied with their care. |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed