Evaluation of an Educational Video: What to Expect Your First Day of Chemotherapy

Abstract

<p><strong>Background.</strong> Anxiety levels in patients diagnosed with cancer are high at the time of diagnosis. Most of these patients do not know what to expect the first day of chemotherapy treatment. This fear of the unknown can cause psychological distress or anxiety. Anxiety may lead to increased occurrences of side effects from cancer treatments, inability to retain information and overall decreased quality of life. Educational interventions may prove beneficial in this population. Video education is becoming more widely used due to advancements in technology.</p> <p><strong>Objectives.</strong> The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the content of the educational video <em>What to Expect Your First Day of Chemotherapy</em>. The secondary aim was to identify additional information that would be identified as potential areas of concerns. That information would be important to address in another video or pamphlet. These newly created media guides would provide an informational reference for the chemotherapy naïve patients. Consequently, these media guides would have the potential to increase the knowledge of the patient and caregivers during medical treatments.</p> <p><strong>Methods.</strong> The current study is a mixed methods pilot study that evaluated the content of the video <em>What to Expect Your First Day of Chemotherapy</em>. Prior to the evaluation, a video was designed and created by this researcher. During the planning phase of the video, a focus group was selected. These individuals were chosen based on their ability to provide information on what was important to for a chemotherapy naïve patient or caregiver to understand on the first day of chemotherapy. </p> <p>Following post-production, a post-viewing survey was designed and created. This survey was reviewed and approved by a clinical statistician. Similarly, a convenience sampling was used for the survey participants. As with the preproduction focus group, participants within the community were chosen based on common experiences. These included healthcare professionals or staff, former or current oncology patients and individuals who were directly involved with a friend or relative who had received chemotherapy.</p> <p><strong>Findings.</strong> The results were overwhelmingly positive towards the video. Descriptive statistics indicate that the video answered the key questions. All 22 of the content related questions received mean scores greater than 4.0 based on the five-point Likert scale, (4.0 = agree). All 22 of the relevancy questions received mean scores of greater than 4.0 based on the five-point Likert Scale, (4.0 = relevant). Three open ended questions were asked to allow the participant to express and provide an opportunity to expand on their answers. </p>