Department of Hematology and Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia.
Cancer. 2021 Nov 1;127(21):4015-4021. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33810. Epub 2021 Jul 21.
It is critical patients understand the terms used to describe oncology treatments; however, even basic chemotherapy terminology can be misunderstood. Rural communities tend to have especially low levels of health literacy compared with nonrural communities. To address low health literacy in rural communities, this study tested rural participants' understanding of previously developed educational chemotherapy videos that were designed for an underserved urban population. Participants were also asked for feedback to determine if the videos could be improved.
Fifty English-speaking patients who reside in counties classified as rural according to the Rural-Urban Continuum Code designations (RUCC 4-9) participated in the study. Participants were asked to define 6 chemotherapy terms before and after viewing a short, animated video explaining the term in English. Rates of correct and incorrect definitions provided by participants were also compared with previously published results from an urban cohort.
All participants had statistically significantly higher rates of correct definitions for all 6 terms following the video intervention. Palliative chemotherapy understanding improved the most (10% correct prevideo and 76% postvideo intervention). For each video, the majority of participants (77%-92%) suggested no changes to the videos.
Given the prevalence of low health literacy in rural communities, it is important to have effective educational interventions to improve the understanding of basic oncology-treatment terminology. This study found that short, educational videos, originally designed for an underserved urban population, can significantly improve understanding of commonly misunderstood chemotherapy terminology in a rural setting as well.
Chemotherapy terminology can be confusing to patients. Understanding can be especially difficult in areas with low health literacy, such as underserved urban and rural communities. To address this concern, previously developed short, animated videos describing basic chemotherapy terminology were found to improve patient understanding in an underserved urban setting. In this study, the videos were tested in a rural population and their effectiveness was established. Participants in the rural setting were significantly more likely to correctly define all 6 tested terms after watching the videos. Educational tools for high-need populations are essential to ensure patients can understand the treatment they receive.
患者理解用于描述肿瘤治疗的术语至关重要；然而，即使是基本的化疗术语也可能被误解。与非农村社区相比，农村社区的健康素养水平往往特别低。为了解决农村社区的低健康素养问题，本研究测试了农村参与者对之前为服务不足的城市人群开发的教育化疗视频的理解，同时也征求了参与者的反馈意见，以确定这些视频是否可以改进。
50 名英语为母语的患者参加了这项研究，这些患者根据农村-城市连续体代码（RUCC 4-9）被归类为居住在农村县的患者。在观看一段用英语解释术语的简短动画视频之前和之后，参与者被要求定义 6 个化疗术语。还比较了参与者提供的正确和错误定义的比率，以及之前从城市队列中发表的结果。
所有参与者在观看视频干预后，对所有 6 个术语的正确定义率均有统计学显著提高。姑息化疗的理解提高最多（预视频时正确的为 10%，视频后为 76%）。对于每个视频，大多数参与者（77%-92%）建议不改变视频。
鉴于农村社区普遍存在低健康素养问题，因此需要有效的教育干预措施来提高对基本肿瘤治疗术语的理解。本研究发现，为服务不足的城市人群设计的简短教育视频可以显著提高农村地区对常见误解的化疗术语的理解。
化疗术语可能会让患者感到困惑。在健康素养较低的地区，如服务不足的城市和农村社区，理解起来尤其困难。为了解决这个问题，之前开发的描述基本化疗术语的简短动画视频被发现可以提高服务不足的城市人群的理解能力。在这项研究中，对农村人群进行了测试，并确定了其有效性。观看视频后，农村参与者正确定义所有 6 个测试术语的可能性显著增加。为高需求人群提供教育工具对于确保患者能够理解他们所接受的治疗至关重要。
