Oral Presentation 2025 Joint Meeting of the COSA ASM and IPOS Congress

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) oncology patients (126773)

Sok Mian Ng 1 2 , Alastair Kwok 1 2 , Michelle White 1 2 , Lisa Grech 2 3 , Janne Williams 4 5 6 , Debbie Packham 4 5 , Kate Webber 1 2
  1. Department of Oncology, Monash Health, Clayton, VIC , Australia
  2. School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  3. School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood , VIC , Australia
  4. Monash Health, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  5. Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, Bentleigh East, VIC, Australia
  6. Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Background

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can improve the quality of care and help guide treatments for patients. Patients from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds have been reported to have lower participation rate in PROMs compared to patients whose first language is English (non-CALD). 

Aim

To assess whether the use of translated PROMs questionnaires impacted the participation rate in CALD patients and the characteristics that may contribute to the differences in PROMs uptake.

Methods

In this 6-month study, 687 oncology patients (21.3% CALD) from a major Victorian public health service were invited to complete PROMs questionnaires electronically prior to their scheduled clinic appointments (n=1751). The PROMs questionnaires included the EQ-5D-5L, Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Revised, and Supportive Care Needs Survey-Short-Form. They were translated into the 10 most used non-English languages, based on hospital interpreter services, to facilitate PROMs questionnaires completion in CALD patients. T-tests and chi-squared tests were undertaken.

Results

When compared with non-CALD patients, CALD patients were more likely to be older (mean age 68.5 vs 63.8 years), male (35.6% vs 24.0%), partnered (70.5% vs 56.2%), and not working (89.0% vs 73.6%), all p<0.05. Of the CALD cohort’s documented 35 non-English first languages, the most common languages were Mandarin (n=25), followed by Greek (n=19), and Vietnamese (n=11). Despite the availability of translated questionnaires, PROMs completion rate was lower amongst CALD patients compared with non-CALD patients (38.7% vs. 49.0%, p<0.001). The proportion of PROMs completions requiring carer assistance was higher amongst CALD patients than non-CALD patients (49.7% vs 6.7%, p<0.001). Only 25% of the pre-appointment questionnaires completed by CALD patients utilised the translated questionnaires (Chinese and Vietnamese).

Conclusion

This study shows language translation alone does not substantially improve PROMs completion in people from CALD backgrounds and that more targeted efforts to improve inclusive PROMs participation for non-English speaking patients are needed.