The Informational Needs of Prostate Cancer Patients Treated with Radical Prostatectomy Regarding Adjuvant or Salvage Radiotherapy: Determinants of Community Health Pilot Project

An evaluation of the information needs of radiotherapy patients and their families

Purpose:

To evaluate the information needs of radiotherapy patients and their families. To explore influential factors regarding information-seeking behaviours. To identify the preferred formats of information and the optimum time for radiotherapy patients to receive information. To assess the implications for clinical practice in satisfying patient information needs.

Method:

A Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature database search of literature was undertaken and publications screened for retrieval with 36 qualifying for inclusion in the evaluation.

Results:

There was inconclusive evidence exploring the impact that patient age, diagnosis, family background, and educational status had on the information-seeking behaviours and preferences of cancer patients. There is an agreement that there are positive and negative benefits of using different formats of information: verbal, written, virtual, and so on, and ultimately healthcare providers must utilise a combination of information formats to satisfy the information needs and preferences of individual patients. Inconsistent data were found on the optimum time to deliver cancer information to patients and professionals, and therapeutic radiographers should not assume that their information priorities are the same as those of their patients—every patient has unique and individually specific information needs.

Conclusion:

The information needs of patients and families are dependent on individual circumstances, and priorities have a tendency to change during the cancer management journey, presenting huge challenges for therapeutic radiographers who are required to regularly reassess and satisfy the varying needs and preferences. More research is needed within the area of information needs and preferences for cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.

Information in radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer: An integrative review

INTRODUCTION

Men with prostate cancer may receive radiotherapy as part of their management. They encounter a range of information related to radiotherapy, and a crucial role for therapeutic radiographers and other healthcare practitioners is ensuring patients receive appropriate information related to their treatment. This integrative review aims to identify, synthesise and analyse literature reporting experiences of men with localised prostate cancer related to information in radiotherapy.

METHODS

A systematic literature search encompassing database and hand searches was carried out between February and March 2017 with date limits of 2000-2017 applied. Initially, 4,954 articles were identified. Systematic screening and detailed examination identified that 33 met the inclusion criteria. Data were synthesised and analysed thematically.

RESULTS

Few studies explicitly addressed the issue of information in radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer. Themes that emerged and were explored are information needs, information regarding adverse effects, information and time, information preferences, satisfaction with information related to radiotherapy and patient experience related to radiotherapy information.

CONCLUSION

This review suggests that although several aspects related to information for men with localised prostate cancer have been documented, few were explored in detail with respect to radiotherapy indicating that further research in this area is warranted.