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The Use of a Brochure to Enable CAM-with-Chemotherapy Patient Education

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Abstract

The majority of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy will consider taking complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) during their treatment. As biologically-active CAM may detrimentally interfere with chemotherapy treatment, cancer patients require evidence-based information on chemotherapy-CAM integration consequences. This study aimed to assess if the availability of a purpose-designed brochure within a cancer service aided doctors’ discussions with their patients on CAM use and helped patients understand the effects of CAM during their chemotherapy treatment. Cancer care doctors consulting in an adult day unit completed a structured post-intervention feedback survey form (n = 17), and cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment were provided the brochure and completed the local health service consumer testing feedback form (n = 30). All cancer care doctors perceived a need for the brochure and recommended the brochure to their patients. All doctors thought the brochure made it easier for them to discuss CAM with their patients, and 59 % believed that it saved them time during patient consultations. Ninety percent of cancer patients reported the brochure had enough information to answer their CAM questions, and all patients thought the information was easy to read and understand. An evidence-based CAM-with-chemotherapy patient brochure was perceived to have enabled cancer care doctors to discuss CAM with their patients and to have answered patients’ CAM questions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service for the publication design and printing assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia

    Peter J. Smith, Alexandra M. Clavarino & Kathryn J. Steadman

  2. Sunshine Coast Cancer Care Services, Nambour General Hospital, Nambour, Qld, 4560, Australia

    Peter J. Smith & Jeremy E. Long

Authors
  1. Peter J. Smith
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  2. Alexandra M. Clavarino
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  3. Jeremy E. Long
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  4. Kathryn J. Steadman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter J. Smith.

Ethics declarations

The study was granted ethics exemption for publication by Human Research Ethics Committees at The Prince Charles Hospital and The University of Queensland.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary Table 1

(DOC 42 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

(DOC 46 kb)

ESM 1

CAM-with-chemotherapy patient educational brochure (PDF 1137 kb)

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Smith, P.J., Clavarino, A.M., Long, J.E. et al. The Use of a Brochure to Enable CAM-with-Chemotherapy Patient Education. J Canc Educ 32, 814–819 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1011-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1011-8

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