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

Exploring the Impact of Radiation Therapy Education Sessions on the Support, Information Needs and Concerns of First Nations peoples with cancer (#32)

Kenneth Carter 1 , Thomas Fontes Andrade 1 , Shafkat Jahan 1 , Lara Stoll 1 , Haryana Dhillon 2 , Joan Cunningham 3 , michael penniment 4 , Sabe Sabesan 5 , Georgia Halkett 6 , Siddhartha Baxi 7 8 , Adam Stoneley 9 , Luke McGhee 10 , Emily Callander 11 , Kar Giam 12 , Joanne Shaw 2 , Sian Smith 13 , Gail Garvey 1
  1. First Nations Cancer & Wellbeing Research Program (School of Public Health), The University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, Australia
  2. The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin
  4. Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia
  5. Townsville Hospital and Health Service, Townsville
  6. Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
  7. GenesisCare, Gold Coast
  8. Griffith University, Gold Coast
  9. Icon Cancer Centre, Brisbane
  10. Icon Cancer Centre, Cairns
  11. Monash University, Melbourne
  12. Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre, Darwin
  13. The University of New South Wales, Sydney

Aims: First Nations Australians continue to experience ongoing disparities in cancer incidence and mortality compared to non-Indigenous Australians. Despite efforts to address these inequities, barriers related to culturally safe healthcare and communication persist, impacting access to and treatment outcomes in radiation therapy (RT). This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of standard RT education sessions on First Nations cancer patients’ support and information needs, and their concerns of RT.

Methods: Three surveys (A, B, and C) using validated measures exploring patient support and information needs; distress levels; and concerns for RT were administered to 30 newly diagnosed adult First Nations cancer patients scheduled for RT across three clinic sites. Surveys were completed following their initial consultation with a radiation oncologist (A), after attending educational sessions with a healthcare provider (B), and within two weeks after completing RT treatment (C). Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests were used to evaluate temporal changes.

Results: Following RT education sessions, the support and information needs of patients significantly decreased (A and B: 35.78 vs. 24.52, p < 0.001). Distress levels remained unchanged after the education session (A vs B) but decreased two weeks after completing RT (B and C: 3.84 vs. 2.6, p < 0.04). Following RT patient education sessions, concerns about RT significantly decreased (A and B: 3.6 vs 2.7, p = 0.02).

Conclusions: Despite small sample size, the findings suggest that standard RT education sessions reduce concerns, support and information needs for First Nations cancer patients, whilst distress levels remained unchanged. The potential for further utilising culturally safe, tailored patient education resources to improve health literacy and treatment outcomes for First Nations Australian RT patients should be explored.