Introduction
As cancer treatment outcomes improve, survivors often face on-going persistent long-term physical, psychological, and psychosocial challenges requiring timely intervention. Radiation Therapists (RTs) frequently express a willingness to engage in survivorship care but report lacking adequate knowledge, skills, and training. Given their in-depth understanding of radiation therapy and consistent, close contact with patients, RTs are well-positioned to contribute among existing interprofessional teams to provide survivorship care. However, despite their patient-centred responsibilities to service delivery, RTs are frequently perceived by the broader interprofessional team primarily as technologists. This study investigated the self-reports of Australian RTs regarding their involvement in cancer survivorship care and examined the extent to which they currently contribute to clinical practice.
Methods
A cross-sectional online survey, employing a mixed methods design, was conducted to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected through Likert-scale questions, and open-ended questions were used to capture qualitative insights.
Ethics approval was obtained from the Flinders University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC project number 6800).
Results
Findings indicate varied perspectives among RTs concerning their role in survivorship care. While some RTs believed that engaging in survivorship care is an integral part of their responsibilities, others reported time constraints, role boundaries, and the ongoing global shortage of RTs as significant barriers to their involvement in cancer survivorship care.
Conclusion
Historically, RTs have primarily focused on acute-phase care. Expanding their role to include survivorship care could address unmet patient needs while enhancing RT job satisfaction. Leveraging the unique therapeutic relationships RTs develop with patients during treatment offers a promising avenue for improving long-term cancer care outcomes.