How do patients make decisions about rectal cancer treatment?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do patients make decisions about rectal cancer treatment?
IRAS ID
244719
Contact name
Edward JD Webb
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Many rectal cancer patients are ineligible for surgery, and so will receive radiotherapy instead. Higher doses of radiotherapy improve the efficacy of treatment by increasing the probability of tumours disappearing, but also mean greater toxicity and worse side effects. However, there is an almost complete lack of understanding of how patients weight and prioritise different potential outcomes, including the balance between efficacy and toxicity. We therefore plan to conduct a survey to measure patient preferences for different attributes of treatment. It will use discrete choice experiment (DCE) methodology in which respondents make choices between hypothetical treatments characterised by a set of attributes and will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. We also intend to request participants repeat the survey after experiencing treatment, to see whether their preferences have changed.
To aid the logistics of survey distribution, it will be administered at the same time and in the same locations as APHRODITE, a clinical trial examining whether a higher radiotherapy dose gives better patient outcomes with acceptable side effects.
This will also give the opportunity to combine (with patient consent) survey results with data from the clinical trial in order to explore how preferences are influenced by experience of treatment.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0249
Date of REC Opinion
19 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion