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- Olausson, Kristina, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure the patient’s experience of external radiotherapy : The Radiotherapy Experience Questionnaire (RTEQ)
- 2017
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In: Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 2405-6324. ; 3-4, s. 7-12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundThe patient’s perception of external radiotherapy (RT) procedures and equipment is important to evaluate as a complement to endpoints such as treatment outcome and reproducibility. There is a lack of a proper, psychometrically robust instrument to evaluate the patient’s comfort and experience of the external RT procedure. Hence, this study aimed to develop and test an instrument to measure the patient’s experience during external RT.Material and MethodsA preliminary 34-item questionnaire was generated from research literature, expert consultations and patient interviews, and it was distributed to patients (n = 825) at 8 RT units in Sweden. The answers were subjected to item analysis and reduction by using exploratory factor analysis. The reliability of the final questionnaire was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. Mean scale scores were compared across gender, length of RT and treatment area.ResultsMost items were highly skewed towards positive responses. Scree plot analyses of the 34-item correlation matrix identified six underlying themes explaining 68% of the total variance. After item reduction, the 6 themes explained 73% of the variance in a 23-item questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha was satisfactory for all themes (between 0.79 and 0.9). Significant differences between treatment areas were found for two scales: situational unease and situational repose.ConclusionThe RT Experience Questionnaire is a tentatively valid and reliable instrument to measure how patients experience the external RT session process and the environment in the treatment room.
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| 2. |
- Olausson, Kristina, 1972-
(author)
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Patient experiences of the radiotherapy process and treatment
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- BackgroundMost cancer patients undergo external radiotherapy (RT) at some stage during their treatment trajectory. RT is often associated with unfamiliar procedures where the technical environment, side effects and interaction with staff seem to play a major role in the patient’s treatment experience. These experiences could sometimes lead to disruption of the treatment which may have negative consequences for the outcome. The overall aim of this thesis was to gain further knowledge about how patients experience RT and the related processes. Such knowledge is of vital importance when developing and improving care within a high-tech RT environment.AimThe overall aim of this thesis was to gain further knowledge about how patients experience RT and the related processes. Such knowledge is of vital importance when developing and improving care within a high-tech RT environment.MethodsTo gain further knowledge and understanding about patients experience of RT both quantitative (I, II, III) and qualitative (III, IV) methodology were used. The data in the thesis focused on patients undergoing external RT at different RT units in Sweden. Study I and II, focused on two regions, the northern region of Sweden and the region of Stockholm and Gotland. Study III and IV were performed at eight different RT units in Sweden.ResultsIn Study I, two types of topical agents (Calendula Weleda cream vs. Essex cream) were compared regarding reducing the risk of severe acute radiation skin reactions (ARSR). No difference in severe ARSR was found between the groups and the patients reported low levels of ARSR. In Study II, the influence of an RT unit’s psychosocial climate and treatment environment on cancer patients’ anxiety during external RT was evaluated. Data was collected (questionnaire) from 892 patients. The results showed that both the treatment environment and the psychosocial climate of the RT unit significantly impacted cancer patient anxiety levels. In Study III & IV, a questionnaire to measure the patient´s experience during external RT was developed and tested. The results showed that the RT Experience Questionnaire (RTEQ), with 23 items, was a tentatively valid and reliable instrument to measure how patients experience the RT process and the environment in the treatment room. In Study IV, written comments from the open-ended question “Is there anything else you want us to know?” in the preliminary RTEQ was analysed with qualitative content analysis. This data was abstracted into the following four major categories reflecting the experience of the RT process: Experiences in the high tech RT environment; Understanding the RT procedures and side effects; Dealing with daily life during RT and The nurses’ role and performance.ConclusionThe RT environment and the RT related processes seem to impact cancer patients, both physically and psychologically. A person-centered care approach, as well as attention to the design, both of the treatment process and the physical environment could significantly improve the patient experience and patient involvement. The results also highlight the importance of taking patient experiences into account when introducing new RT methods and techniques.
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| 3. |
- Olausson, Kristina, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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What matters to you? : Free-text comments in a questionnaire from patients undergoing radiotherapy
- 2020
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In: Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology. - : Elsevier. - 2405-6324. ; 13, s. 11-16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Most cancer patients undergo external radiotherapy (RT) at some stage during their treatment trajectory and RT is often associated with unfamiliar procedures in a highly technical environment. The purpose of this study was to explore how patients experience RT and the related processes, as described in free-text comments in a large Swedish survey with questionnaires including items on psychosocial climate and treatment environment.Methods: The data consisted of free-text comments from one open-ended question: "Is there anything else you want us to know" and were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Results: Of 825 returned questionnaires, 261 contained free-text comments from patients (32%). The hand-written, free-text comments reflected the patients' experience of the RT process and were abstracted into the four major categories with sub-categories: experiencing the high-tech RT environment, understanding the RT procedures and side effects, dealing with daily life during RT, and the nurses' role and performance. The categories reflect the patients' experiences and emphasize how important it is to evaluate what really matters to the patients when changing procedures, practices, and how to minimize disturbances in the patients' daily lives.Conclusion: The main conclusions from this study are that the involvement of patients in choosing daily appointment times, providing good information during the RT process to make the patients feel safe, experience and attitude of the staff and respect for the patient's autonomy are highly ranked values for patients. An implementation of person-centred care may help relieve many of these problems.
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| 4. |
- Olausson, Kristina, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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What matters to you? – Free-text comments in a questionnaire from patients undergoing radiotherapy
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Background: Most cancer patients undergo external radiotherapy (RT) at some stage during their treatment trajectory and RT is often associated with unfamiliar procedures in a highly technical environment. The purpose of this study was to explore how patients experience RT and the related processes, as described in free-text comments in a large Swedish survey with questionnaires including items on psychosocial climate and treatment environment. Methods: The data consisted of free-text comments from one open-ended question: “Is there anything else you want us to know” and were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Of 825 returned questionnaires, 261 contained free-text comments from patients (32%). The analysis of the data resulted in four major categories: experiencing the high-tech RT environment, understanding the RT procedures and side effects, dealing with daily life during RT, and the nurses’ role and performance. Conclusion: The categories reflect the patients’ experiences and emphasize how important it is to evaluate what really matters to the patients when changing procedures, practices, and how to minimize disturbances in the patients’ daily lives.
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| 5. |
- Olausson, Kristina, 1972-, et al.
(author)
-
What matters to you? – Free-text comments in a questionnaire from patients undergoing radiotherapy
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Background: Most cancer patients undergo external radiotherapy (RT) at some stage during their treatment trajectory and RT is often associated with unfamiliar procedures in a highly technical environment. The purpose of this study was to explore how patients experience RT and the related processes, as described in free-text comments in a large Swedish survey with questionnaires including items on psychosocial climate and treatment environment. Methods: The data consisted of free-text comments from one open-ended question: “Is there anything else you want us to know” and were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Of 825 returned questionnaires, 261 contained free-text comments from patients (32%). The analysis of the data resulted in four major categories: experiencing the high-tech RT environment, understanding the RT procedures and side effects, dealing with daily life during RT, and the nurses’ role and performance. Conclusion: The categories reflect the patients’ experiences and emphasize how important it is to evaluate what really matters to the patients when changing procedures, practices, and how to minimize disturbances in the patients’ daily lives.
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| 6. |
- Roxberg, Åsa, 1953-, et al.
(author)
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Space and place for health and care
- 2020
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In: International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. - Abingdon : Taylor and Francis Ltd.. - 1748-2623 .- 1748-2631. ; 15:sup1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: This discussion paper aims to contribute to a greater understanding of the state of the art of research engaged with conceptual matters of space and place for health and care. Method: The authors, who represent a variety of academic disciplines, discuss and demonstrate the conceptual recognition of space and place in research in health and caring sciences building upon own work and experience. Results: To explore the concepts of space and place for health and care is a research pursuit of utmost importance, and should be made through transdisciplinary research collaborations, whereby spatial theories from various disciplines could be communicated to cultivate truly novel and well-informed research. Furthermore, engaging with relational and topological perceptions of space and place poses methodological challenges to overcome in future research on health and care. Conclusions: We argue that there is a need for accelerating spatially informed research on health and care that is informed by current theories and perspectives on space and place, and transdisciplinary research collaborations are a means to achieving this. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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