Relieving Anxiety in Children Undergoing Radiation Therapy though Virtual Prepara

描述（由申请人提供）：儿童认为放射治疗是患癌后压力最大的方面之一。虽然放射治疗是无痛的，但由于对放射治疗的误解，儿童患者感到焦虑和困难，不得不过渡到不熟悉的治疗环境和医疗团队，对大型嘈杂的设备感到害怕，并且在整个过程中被要求保持独处和不动。为了确保儿童在放射治疗期间不会移动，可能需要镇静，这会带来许多额外的风险和费用。数据表明，患者准备方案可以提高无镇静放射治疗的成功率，并减少儿童及其父母的焦虑。在进行无镇静的放射治疗和减少儿童及其父母的焦虑方面取得进展的一个关键障碍是，目前的标准准备形式——如果提供的话——需要大量的时间、空间、资金和人员；医疗资源日益短缺。我们的目标是：(1)开发RadWorld测试版：一个自动化的、互动的、有吸引力的、以患者为中心的、成本效益高的、时间效率高的虚拟世界程序，为儿童及其父母准备儿科放射治疗；(2)开发RadWorld；(3)评价RadWorld在儿科放射治疗制剂中的有效性。我们的团队将通过患者半结构化访谈、可用性测试和技术分析的反馈来开发和完善RadWorld的测试版和最终版本。第三个目的将通过RadWorld与标准制剂的随机对照试验进行比较。我们期望接受RadWorld治疗的儿童比接受标准治疗的儿童有更多的知识，更少的恐惧和焦虑，更少的镇静，对放射治疗的满意度更高。随机分配到RadWorld的父母也应该比标准护理条件下的父母对儿童放射治疗有更好的了解，更低的恐惧和焦虑，更高的满意度。此外，我们假设RadWorld将比标准的准备程序更节省时间和成本。我们的长期目标是将RadWorld的范围扩展到其他儿科肿瘤手术以及肿瘤以外儿童面临的医疗压力源。我们的研究项目利用信息技术来提高儿科医疗保健的质量、安全性、效率和有效性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children consider radiation therapy one of the most stressful aspects of having cancer. Although radiation therapy is pain-free, pediatric patients fin it anxiety provoking and difficult due to misunderstandings about radiation therapy, having to transition to an unfamiliar treatment setting and medical team, feeling intimidated by the large and noisy equipment, and being required to remain alone and motionless throughout the procedure. To ensure that children do not move during radiation therapy, sedation might be needed, which invites a host of additional risks and costs. Data indicate that patient preparation programs can improve the success of conducting radiation without sedation and decrease children's and their parents' anxiety. A critical barrier to progress in conducting radiation withot sedation and decreasing children's and their parents' anxiety is that the current standard form of preparation - when provided at all - requires extensive time, space, funding, and personnel; healthcare resources that are increasingly in short supply. Our aims are to (1) develop RadWorld beta: an automated, interactive, engaging, patient-centered, cost- effective, time-efficient, virtual world program to prepare children and their parents for pediatric radiation therapy; (2) develop RadWorld; and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of RadWorld for pediatric radiation therapy preparation. Our team will develop and refine a beta version and a final version of RadWorld via feedback from patient semi-structured interviews, usability testing, and technical analyses. The third aim will be examined with a randomized controlled trial comparison of RadWorld to standard preparation. We expect that children exposed to RadWorld will have more knowledge, less fear and anxiety, fewer sedations, and greater satisfaction with radiation therapy than children receiving standard care. Parents randomized to RadWorld should also have better knowledge, lower fear and anxiety, and higher satisfaction associated with pediatric radiation therapy than parents in the standard care condition. In addition, we hypothesize that RadWorld will be more time- and cost-efficient than standard preparation procedures. Our long-term aims are to expand the scope of RadWorld to other pediatric oncology procedures as well as medical stressors faced by children outside of oncology. Our program of research uses IT to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of pediatric healthcare.