ASPO Abstracts
Confidence, beliefs, and knowledge about cancer treatments with cardiotoxic effects among oncologists
Category: Behavioral Science & Health Communication
Conference Year: 2023
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Cardiotoxicity is an unintended consequence of cancer treatments (e.g., chemotherapy, chest radiotherapy) which can lead to decreased quality of life and increased mortality among cancer survivors. Clinical guidelines for monitoring and prevention of cardiotoxicity exist, but whether practice and patient characteristics are associated with oncologists' confidence, beliefs, and knowledge for cancer treatments with potentially adverse cardiotoxic effects is not known. Methods: We surveyed U.S.-based oncologists who are members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Research Survey Pool to assess their practice and patient characteristics in relation to their 1) confidence in [1-not at all, 3-very], 2) beliefs about [1- not, 5-very strong], and 3) subjective [1-not at all, 5- extremely familiar] and objective knowledge regarding [0-not, 1- guideline concordant for screening frequency] cardiotoxic cancer treatments using independent linear and logistic regression, adjusted for age, years of clinical experience, and gender. Results: Oncologists (n=133) who completed the survey had a mean age of 46 years (SD: 10.61) and most practiced in urban (71%) compared to suburban or rural locations. Higher proportions of caring for younger patients <50 years were positively associated with confidence about cardiotoxic effects (β=0.18, p=0.03). Higher proportions of time spent on direct patient care among oncologists were associated with stronger beliefs that adverse cardiotoxic effects are important when making treatment decisions (β=0.70, p=0.04). Practicing in suburban locations (β=0.64, p=0.003), but not rural (β=0.31, p=0.37), was associated with increased reported familiarity (subjective knowledge) of cardiotoxicity guidelines compared to urban locations; however, there were no differences observed when assessing objective knowledge of guidelines for suburban (odds ratio [OR]=2.10, 95%CI=0.85-5.23) or rural (OR=1.12, 95%CI=0.21- 4.79) locations. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that some practice and patient characteristics are associated with oncologists' confidence, beliefs, and knowledge about cardiotoxic cancer treatments, highlighting the importance of relevant training on cardiotoxicity guidelines for oncologists.
Keywords: Cardiotoxicity; cancer treatment; cancer survivorship; confidence, beliefs, and knowledge of oncologists