nach oben

Supportive Care in Cancer

Erschienen in:

26.07.2018 | Original Article

What do radiation therapists know about health literacy and the strategies to improve it for patients? A qualitative study

verfasst von: Fiona Quinn, Sian K Smith, Haryana M Dhillon, Charles Gillham, Agnella Craig

Erschienen in: Supportive Care in Cancer | Ausgabe 2/2019

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Purpose

Low health literacy leads to poor knowledge and understanding of health information, delayed diagnosis, lower use of preventative medicines/health services, increased likelihood of hospitalisation, and increased patient anxiety. Effective communication facilitates patient understanding and helps patients to manage the adverse side-effects associated with treatment. It is not yet known whether radiation therapists in Ireland tailor their communication to match a patient’s health literacy level. The purpose of this research was to investigate radiation therapists’ knowledge and awareness of health literacy and perceptions of their role in supporting patients with low health literacy.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixteen radiation therapists working in four radiotherapy departments in Ireland. Data were analysed using the framework approach.

Results

Through discussions with participants, it was apparent that radiation therapists had limited knowledge of the concept of health literacy. Common themes arose from the interviews with four key themes identified:

Strategies used to identify patients’ health literacy

Perceived effect of low health literacy

Obstacles faced when addressing low health literacy

Recommendations to support lower health literacy groups

Conclusion

Currently, radiation therapists show some knowledge and awareness of health literacy, but an increased awareness of the prevalence of low health literacy and a structured approach to supporting patients would allow radiation therapists to more effectively communicate with patients, thus improving their treatment experience and reducing the risk of adverse outcomes.

Nur mit Berechtigung zugänglich

Pieterse AH, Jager NA, Smets EM, Henselmans I (2013) Lay understanding of common medical terminology in oncology. Psycho-Oncology 22(5):1186–1191

Wang DS, Jani AB, Tai CG, Sesay M, Lee DK, Goodman M, Echt KV, Kilbridge KE, Master VA (2013) Severe lack of comprehension of common prostate health terms among low-income inner-city men. Cancer 119(17):3204–3211

Nutbeam D (2000) Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promot Int 15(3):259–267CrossRef

Nutbeam D (2008) The evolving concept of health literacy. Soc Sci Med 67(12):2072–2078CrossRef

Doyle G, Cafferkey K, Fullam J (2012) The European health literacy survey: results from Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin. http://vchealth.kums.ac.ir/kums_content/media/image/2013/09/33757_orig.pdf

Marshall S, Sahm L, McCarthy S (2012) Health literacy in Ireland: reading between the lines. Perspect Public Health 132(1):31–38CrossRef

ABS (2006) Adult literacy and life skills survey, summary results. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Cat No 4228.0

Jordan JE, Buchbinder R, Briggs AM, Elsworth GR, Busija L, Batterham R, Osborne RH (2013) The health literacy management scale (HeLMS): a measure of an individual’s capacity to seek, understand and use health information within the healthcare setting. Patient Educ Couns 91(2):228–235

Wolf MS, Feinglass J, Thompson J, Baker DW (2010) In search of ‘low health literacy’: threshold vs. gradient effect of literacy on health status and mortality. Soc Sci Med 70(9):1335–1341

10.

Institute of Medicine Committee on Health, L. (2004) In: Nielsen-Bohlman L, Panzer AM, Kindig DA (eds) Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. National Academies Press (US) Copyright 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences, Washington

11.

Bostock S, Steptoe A (2012) Association between low functional health literacy and mortality in older adults: longitudinal cohort study. BMJ 344:e1602CrossRef

12.

Douma KF, Koning CC, Zandbelt LC, de Haes HC, Smets EM (2012) Do patients’ information needs decrease over the course of radiotherapy? Support Care Cancer 20(9):2167–2176

13.

Zeguers M, de Haes HC, Zandbelt LC, ter Hoeven CL, Franssen SJ, Geijsen DD, Koning CC, Smets EM (2012) The information needs of new radiotherapy patients: how to measure? Do they want to know everything? And if not, why? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 82(1):418–424

14.

Smith SK, Zhu Y, Dhillon HM, Milross CG, Taylor J, Halkett G, Zilliacus E (2013) Supporting patients with low health literacy: what role do radiation therapists play? Support Care Cancer 21(11):3051–3061

15.

Smith SK, Petrak LM, Dhillon HM, Taylor J, Milross CG (2014) Are radiation oncologists aware of health literacy among people with cancer treated with radiotherapy? Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) 23(1):111–120

16.

Gale NK, Heath G, Cameron E, Rashid S, Redwood S (2013) Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC Med Res Methodol 13:117

17.

Ritchie J, Lewis J (2003) Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers. Sage, London

18.

Berkman ND, Sheridan SL, Donahue KE, Halpern DJ, Crotty K (2011) Low health literacy and health outcomes: an updated systematic review. Ann Intern Med 155(2):97–107

19.

Easton P, Entwistle VA, Williams B (2010) Health in the ‘hidden population’ of people with low literacy. a systematic review of the literature. BMC Public Health 10:459CrossRef

20.

DfEE (1999) A Fresh Start: improving literacy and numeracy. The report of the working group chaired by sir Claus Moser. Department for Education and Employment, London

21.

Levinson W, Kao A, Kuby A, Thisted RA (2005) Not all patients want to participate in decision making. A national study of public preferences. J Gen Intern Med 20(6):531–535

22.

Kutner M, Greenburg E, Jin Y, Paulsen C (2006) The health literacy of America's adults: results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. National Centre for Education statistics

23.

Scott TL, Gazmararian JA, Williams MV, Baker DW (2002) Health literacy and preventive health care use among Medicare enrollees in a managed care organization. Med Care 40(5):395–404

24.

Agarwal AK, Sethi A, Sareen D, Dhingra S (2011) Treatment delay in oral and oropharyngeal cancer in our population: the role of socio-economic factors and health-seeking behaviour. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 63(2):145–150

25.

Husson O, Mols F, Fransen MP, van de Poll-Franse LV, Ezendam NP (2014) Low subjective health literacy is associated with adverse health behaviors and worse health-related quality of life among colorectal cancer survivors: results from the profiles registry. Psychooncology

26.

Willems S, De Maesschalck S, Deveugele M, Derese A, De Maeseneer J (2005) Socio-economic status of the patient and doctor-patient communication: does it make a difference? Patient Educ Couns 56(2):139–146

27.

Manfredi C, Kaiser K, Matthews AK, Johnson TP (2010) Are racial differences in patient-physician cancer communication and information explained by background, predisposing, and enabling factors? J Health Commun 15(3):272–292

28.

Smith SK, Dixon A, Trevena L, Nutbeam D, McCaffery KJ (2009) Exploring patient involvement in healthcare decision making across different education and functional health literacy groups. Soc Sci Med 69(12):1805–1812

29.

D’ haese S, Vinh-Hung V, Bijdekerke P, Spinnoy M, de Beukeleer M, Lochie N, de Roover P, Storme G (2000) The effect of timing of the provision of information on anxiety and satisfaction of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. J Cancer Educ 15(4):223–227

30.

DeWalt DA, Broucksou KA, Hawk V, Brach C, Hink A, Rudd R, Callahan L (2011) Developing and testing the health literacy universal precautions toolkit. Nurs Outlook 59(2):85–94

31.

Garcia SF, Hahn EA, Jacobs EA (2010) Addressing low literacy and health literacy in clinical oncology practice. J Support Oncol 8(2):64–69PubMedPubMedCentral

32.

Osborne H (2013) Health literacy from A-Z: practical ways to communicate your health message, 2nd ed. David C.Cella

33.

Wolf MS, Williams MV, Parker RM, Parikh NS, Nowlan AW, Baker DW (2007) Patients’ shame and attitudes toward discussing the results of literacy screening. J Health Commun 12(8):721–732

34.

Parikh NS, Parker RM, Nurss JR, Baker DW, Williams MV (1996) Shame and health literacy: the unspoken connection. Patient Educ Couns 27(1):33–39

35.

Macabasco-O’Connell A, Fry-Bowers EK (2011) Knowledge and perceptions of health literacy among nursing professionals. J Health Commun 16(Suppl 3):295–307CrossRef

36.

Coleman C (2011) Teaching health care professionals about health literacy: a review of the literature. Nurs Outlook 59(2):70–78CrossRef

37.

Halkett G, O’Connor M, Aranda S, Jefford M, Merchant S, York D, Miller L, Schofield P (2016) Communication skills training for radiation therapists: preparing patients for radiation therapy. J Med Radiat Sci 63(4):232–241. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmrs.171

38.

Dhillon HM, Smith SK, Stefanic N, Turner R, Naehrig D, Shepherd HL, Halkett GK, Shaw J (2016) Pilot-testing the feasibility and acceptability of a radiation therapy talking book. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol 12:107–107

Titel: What do radiation therapists know about health literacy and the strategies to improve it for patients? A qualitative study
verfasst von: Fiona Quinn
Sian K Smith
Haryana M Dhillon
Charles Gillham
Agnella Craig
Publikationsdatum: 26.07.2018
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in: Supportive Care in Cancer / Ausgabe 2/2019
Print ISSN: 0941-4355
Elektronische ISSN: 1433-7339
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4353-4

Neu im Fachgebiet Onkologie

24.04.2024 | DGIM 2024 | Nachrichten

Springer Medizin

What do radiation therapists know about health literacy and the strategies to improve it for patients? A qualitative study

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Neu im Fachgebiet Onkologie

Bei Senioren mit Prostatakarzinom auf Anämie achten!

ICI-Therapie in der Schwangerschaft wird gut toleriert

Krebspatienten impfen: Was? Wen? Und wann nicht?

Müde im Alter? Auch an die Nebenniere denken

Update Onkologie

Springer Medizin

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu diesem Inhalt zu erhalten

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 2/2019

Sensory preferences of supplemented food products among cancer patients: a systematic review

Hispanic breast cancer patients’ symptom experience and patient-physician communication during chemotherapy

Emergency admissions and subsequent inpatient care through an emergency oncology service at a tertiary cancer centre: service users’ experiences and views

Development and prospective evaluation of CAPLET, a cancer ambulatory patient physical function longitudinal evaluation tool for routine clinical practice

Examining trajectories of anxiety in men with prostate cancer faced with complex treatment decisions

The experiences of older caregivers of cancer patients following hospital discharge

Neu im Fachgebiet Onkologie

Bei Senioren mit Prostatakarzinom auf Anämie achten!

ICI-Therapie in der Schwangerschaft wird gut toleriert

Krebspatienten impfen: Was? Wen? Und wann nicht?

Müde im Alter? Auch an die Nebenniere denken

Update Onkologie