S1341
Interdisciplinary - Education in radiation oncology
ESTRO 206
satisfaction score surveys dramatically improved. Furthermore, we demonstrated that pts could immediately provide feedback about their understanding of treatment options. The study has expanded to both pre- and post-treatment engagements. Keywords: Avatar, Digital, AI
Purpose/Objective: The diagnosis of cancer and complexity of treatment choices, especially radiation therapy, lead to patients facing difficult decisions under duress that may impact their outcomes. Despite intensified focus on patient education, the decline of engagement between pts and their doctors has contributed to a decline in pt- reported teach back and satisfaction scores in our community-based cancer patient. The evolution of AI capabilities led us to explore the efficacy of multimedia “first-touch” digital engagement using AI- generated avatars in the likeness and voice of our physicians. Our hypothesis was that digital engagement prior to their initial consultation, and confirming their comprehension with a teach back quiz, would improve patient understanding, empower them to actively participate in their treatment decisions reduce their stress, and improve mandated patient satisfaction scores. Material/Methods: We initially collaborated with ASTRO to use their existing patient education video library, and subsequently transitioned to a private patient engagement company, to create physician specific AI- avatar based pre-consultation digital engagement materials about radiation treatment options. We assessed pt comprehension via digital teach back quizzes and collected pt reported satisfaction scores. We evaluated both digital experiences comparing both methods in terms of the metrics outlined, as well as hospital pt satisfaction scores before and after the introduction of digital engagement at 1 year. Results: 1,464 pts completed our pre-consultation digital engagement, teach-back quiz and survey. Of those, 506 (34.6%) received an ASTRO educational video, and 958 (65.4%) received a digital avatar-based video that used personalized scripts and illustrations, which could be updated as clinically needed. Digital Teach back scores were collected for 1,463 pts. Statistically significant improvements were found in pt understanding (p<.001), video empowerment (p<.001) and reduced stress (p<.001) in patients who received the personalized AI avatar videos versus the ASTRO video. The Avatar engagement also improved hospital based standardized assessment of pt satisfaction scores compared to pre-digital engagement. Conclusion: To our knowledge we are the first community radiation oncology practice to implement personalized AI avatars to educate pts. Pts participating in our digital first touch pre-engagement, demonstrated significantly better understanding of their treatment protocol, greater empowerment to participate in their healthcare decisions and lower stress than pts who watched the ASTRO videos. Hospital mandated
Poster Discussion 4335
Understanding emotional adaptation in hadron therapy: a narrative and linguistic analysis of patients’ experiences Maria Elena Piazzolla 1 , Veronica Borelli 2 , Valentina Alimenti 3 , Chiara Zanchi 4 , Sara Tampellini 1 , Maria Bonora 5 , Anna Maria Camarda 5 , Mariangela Caputo 5 , Rossana Ingargiola 5 , Sara Ronchi 5 , Barbara Vischioni 5 , Ester Orlandi 5,6 , Amelia Barcellini 5,7 1 Radiation Therapist Unit, Clinical Department, CNAO National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy, Pavia, Italy. 2 Psychologist, Clinical Department, CNAO National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy, Pavia, Italy. 3 CRC Linguistic Creativity in Communication, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany. 4 Department of Humanities, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 5 Radiation Oncology Unit, Clinical Department, CNAO National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy, Pavia, Italy. 6 Department of Clinical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 7 Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy Purpose/Objective: Patients receiving Hadron Therapy (HT) for head and neck (N&N) cancers often experience marked emotional distress, especially during immobilization procedures such as thermoplastic mask fabrication. These emotions can affect treatment adherence and perceptions of care quality. By analyzing patients’ written narratives after the simulation phase, this study investigates their linguistic expressions of emotions to reveal the lived experience of therapy. The findings aim to inform patient-centered communication strategies and educational interventions grounded in narrative medicine. Material/Methods: Between 2021 and 2024, forty-nine adult patients treated at the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO, Italy) were invited to compose guided narratives describing their experience of the simulation and mask-making process. Thirty-one narratives met inclusion criteria for a combined quantitative/automatic and qualitative/manual linguistic and narrative analyses. The most frequent words, after lemmatization, were extracted and semantic frame analysis was employed to identify
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