2173 - Development of Evidence-Based Multilingual Patient Education Materials in a Multidisciplinary Rectal Cancer Clinic

J. Willcox¹, J. Quinn², M. Keane², and M. J. Abrams³; ¹Department of Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, ²Division of Colon & Rectal Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, ³Department of Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Purpose/Objective(s): Individuals undergoing cancer treatment frequently have multiple healthcare professionals across several specialties involved in their care, making effective communication and patient education critical to favorable outcomes. Available resources are frequently unilingual (English only), and above the average reading level of the U.S. population. In this qualitative study, we utilized patient interviews to develop multilingual patient education materials for a multidisciplinary rectal cancer clinic. Materials/

Methods: A multidisciplinary working group of 3 providers and a research assistant in the rectal cancer program conducted individual structured interviews with 8 patients (6 English speaking, and 2 non-English speaking) who were previously treated as part of our institution’s multidisciplinary rectal cancer clinic to better understand their experiences with patient education. The study team used an interview questionnaire to direct the conversations, and patients were given the opportunity to comment. The team then derived common themes, and used this as a guide to develop novel, multilingual patient education materials adjusted to the average reading level of the population.
Results: The median age of participants was 60 years (range 39-77), 5 were male, and 3 were female. 6 of these patients spoke English as their primary language, 1 spoke Cantonese, and 1 spoke Spanish. Patients commented on their experiences at each phase of their treatment and interactions with the multidisciplinary team. The common themes identified by the working group were: identifying trusted information, access to support services (e.g., wound ostomy, psychosocial), treatment plan review, access to cancer care providers, and challenges encountered because of limited English proficiency. The working group created information sheets containing general information, treatment plan, and provider face sheets with contact information. Furthermore, the team created information sheets on interpreter services, social work, onco-psychiatry, support groups, complementary medicine, financial assistance, FMLA, insurance prior authorizations, campus maps, transportation resources, nutrition, and wound-ostomy. All of this was transcribed to a goal 6^th-grade reading level using ChatGPT-4 and verified using the Flesch-Kincaid grade level and reading ease as well as the SMOG readability formula. They will be translated into multiple languages including Spanish, Cantonese, Russian, Mandarin, and Haitian Creole and sent to graphic design for production.
Conclusion: Utilizing a stepwise, structured, patient interview model, we created comprehensive, multilingual patient education resources at the reading level of the general population for a multidisciplinary rectal cancer clinic; a step toward ensuring equitable access to quality care for all patients.