Rapid Fire Best of the Best Oral Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Increasing recruitment of CALD population to MRI Clinical Trials in Radiation Oncology (#35)

Robba Rai 1 2 3 , Doaa Elwadia 1 4 , Trang Pham 1 2 3 , Penny Phan 1 2 , Ben Smith 5 , Joseph Descallar 2 3 , Kylie Dundas 1 2 3
  1. Liverpool and Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centre, Casula, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia
  2. Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, NSW, Australia
  3. South Western Sydney Clinical School, The University of New South Wales, Liverpool, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia
  4. The University of Sydney, Discipline of Medical Imaging Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia
  5. The Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, A Joint Venture with Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia

Introduction: In South West Sydney, 45% of the population speak a language other than English. Culturally & linguistically diverse (CALD) patients are significantly less likely to participate in clinical trials compared to Non-CALD with language & health literacy impacting participation. This study aimed to determine if an educational intervention led to increased willingness of CALD patients to participate in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clinical trials for radiotherapy (RT).

Methods: Eligible patients required an Arabic or Vietnamese interpreter for their RT planning scans and were allocated to one of three study arms: [A] eligible for MRI clinical trial & require MRI as standard of care (SOC), [B]: not eligible for MRI clinical trial but require MRI as SOC and, [C] does not require MRI as SOC. Patients were asked to watch a 5 minute video in their preferred language, detailing the role of MRI trials in RT. Embedded within the video were pre & post 7-item surveys assessing whether the video improves health literacy, using a 5-point Likert scale. Pre & post results were compared using symmetry tests in SPSS.

Results: To date 92 participants have been recruited (52 Vietnamese & 40 Arabic-speaking, median age=68 years (60-93)). Patients were more likely to want to participate in an MRI clinical trial (pre 52% vs post 77%) after viewing the educational video in arms b & c (p=0.023 and p<0.001, respectively). There were also significant improvements (pre 76% vs post 88%) in beliefs that clinical trials will improve future cancer treatment in arms b & c (p=0.008 and p=0.039, respectively).

Conclusion: Preliminary results suggest that an educational intervention increases the willingness of CALD patients to participate in MRI clinical trials. Providing patients with clinical trials information in their preferred language and an accessible format is an important strategy to increase CALD patient recruitment.