Health Literacy in Understanding Radiation Therapy Information in Patients Undergoing Definitive Radiation Therapy

University of Southern California35 enrolled

Overview

This study assesses the health literacy and understanding of radiation therapy information during consultation in patients with prostate or breast cancer undergoing definitive radiation therapy. Health literacy is defined as "the capacity to obtain, process, and understand health information and services to enable sound health decisions." Information gained from this study, may help researchers develop appropriate modalities to enhance comprehension of radiation therapy, and therefore allow for improved patient decision making with medical treatment.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: I. To assess patient health literacy and understanding of critical radiation information during consultation in Spanish and English speaking patient in the department of radiation oncology at Los Angeles County (LAC) + University of Southern California (USC) utilizing a patient survey administered after consultation. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: I. Correlate findings of radiation comprehension and satisfaction with validated measures of health literacy, acculturation, and socioeconomic status of patients. TERTIARY OBJECTIVE: I. To assess patient satisfaction of interpreter service in Spanish-speaking patients among breast and prostate cancer patients receiving definitive radiation. OUTLINE: Patients complete a survey over 5-10 minutes about their understanding of radiation therapy.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Anatomic Stage I Breast Cancer AJCC v8 Anatomic Stage IA Breast Cancer AJCC v8 Anatomic Stage IB Breast Cancer AJCC v8

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * All participants in this study will have cT1-4N0-1M0 prostate cancer or cT1-4N1-3M0 breast cancer, as clinically staged by the attending radiation oncologist following the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 8th edition * Non-metastatic breast or prostate cancer * Radiation consultation for definitive treatment * English or Spanish-speaking Exclusion Criteria: * Any person with major cognitive deficit or psychiatric impairment * Any person, who with assistance by a family member or caregiver, is unable to complete a written survey

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Understanding of radiation therapy information

Patients will be given an internally developed questionnaire of 11 questions intended to ascertain understanding of basic radiotherapy information that is needed to make an informed decision. The questions with one answer will be given a +1 for correct and -1 for incorrect. The questions with multiple answers (toxicity) will be given a +1 for a correctly chosen side effect, and a -1 for an incorrect response. The total will be the patient's summary score.

Time frame: Up to 1 week

Secondary Outcomes

Radiation comprehension and satisfaction

Findings will be correlated with validated measures of health literacy, acculturation, and socioeconomic status of patients. Will assess variables associated with post-consult knowledge, with independent variables (IVs) comprising of ethnicity, cultural factors (nativity, acculturation), level of health literacy, sex, and socioeconomic status in linear regression models. Bivariate analyses will initially be conducted between IVs and the outcome; variables that are significant at p \< 0.10 will be included in the multivariable model. Interaction terms will also be examined to test for differences by Hispanic/non-Hispanic ethnicity (the outcome regressed on Hispanic\*IVs). The alpha level for the multivariable model will be p \< 0.05.