Digitally Enabled Transitional Care Management in Oncology.

Purpose: Improving care transitions for patients with cancer discharged from the hospital is considered an important component of quality care. Digital monitoring has the potential to better the delivery of transitional care through improved patient-provider communication and enhanced symptom management. However, remote patient monitoring (RPM) interventions have not been widely implemented for oncology patients after discharge, an innovative setting in which to apply this technology.

Disparities in Cancer Screening in Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: A Secondary Analysis of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Data.

Objectives: To describe cancer screening characteristics and better understand individual-, environmental-, and organizational-level barriers of sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations.

Sample And Setting: This study was conducted using a combined sample from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) national dataset from 2014 and 2016.

Methods And Variables: Chi-square tests for independence and logistic regression analysis tests were performed to determine whether relationships existed between SGM status and demographics.

Suggestions for modifications to the Female Sexual Function Index based on cognitive interviews with sexual and gender minority individuals and cisgender, heterosexual persons.

Background: Patient-reported outcome measures for sexual health were often designed for research studies that included only heterosexual, partnered, and cisgender participants; as such, they may have limited applicability for clinical use among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals or those without a partner.

Aim: We aimed to conduct cognitive interviews with SGM persons and heterosexual women to determine the readability, comprehension, and applicability of questionnaire items to assess sexual function among diverse sexual and gender identities.

Methods: We conducted 4 rounds of cognitive interviews with 52 participants (28 SGM; 24 cisgender, heterosexual) who provided feedback on the comprehension and wording of questionnaire items and response scales.

Palliative and end-of-life care needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness: A systematic mixed-methods review.

Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals experience discrimination throughout the care continuum, including during serious illness and at end of life. High-quality palliative care requires that health professionals deliver individualized services that reflect the needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ persons.

Aim: To identify and appraise existing evidence related to the needs, experiences, and preferences for palliative and end of life care among LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness.

Sexual and Gender Minority Persons' Perception of the Female Sexual Function Index.

Background: Patient-reported outcome instruments to assess sexual functioning typically assume that patients are heterosexual and have a single sexual partner, thus they may have limited applicability for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations as well as for nonpartnered individuals or those with multiple partners.

Aim: To explore the perceptions of SGM persons regarding the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), a commonly used sexual functioning questionnaire.

Methods: We conducted 2 rounds of cognitive interviews with 27 SGM persons with and without a cancer diagnosis.

Oncology Patients' Perspectives on Remote Patient Monitoring for COVID-19.

Purpose: Oncology patients are vulnerable to adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19, and clinical deterioration must be identified early. Several institutions launched remote patient monitoring programs (RPMPs) to care for patients with COVID-19. We describe patients' perspectives on a COVID-19 RPMP at a National Comprehensive Cancer Center.

InSight Care Pilot Program: Redefining Seeing a Patient.

Purpose: Early detection and management of symptoms in patients with cancer improves outcomes. However, the optimal approach to symptom monitoring and management is unknown. InSight Care is a mobile health intervention that captures symptom data and facilitates patient-provider communication to mitigate symptom escalation.

Oncology patients' preferences regarding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) disclosure and room sharing.

Objective: Disproportionate rates of certain cancers exist among sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults. Collecting sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) information is important in providing individualized care. This study assessed cancer patients' perceptions regarding SOGI questions, preferred ways to communicate SOGI information to healthcare providers and comfort in sharing room with SGM patients.

A Video Decision Aid Improves Informed Decision Making in Patients With Advanced Cancer Considering Palliative Radiation Therapy.

Context: Advanced cancer patients have unrecognized gaps in their understanding about palliative radiation therapy (PRT).

Objectives: To build a video decision aid for hospitalized patients with advanced cancer referred for PRT and prospectively test its efficacy in reducing decisional uncertainty, improving knowledge, increasing treatment readiness and readiness for palliative care consultation, and its acceptability among patients.

Methods: Forty patients with advanced cancer hospitalized at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center watched a video decision aid about PRT and palliative care.

Encouraging patients to disclose their lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) status: oncology health care providers' perspectives.

A compelling touted strategy for reducing discrimination towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients is improving communicative competence of health care providers (HCPs); however, evidence base for describing communication practices between HCPs and LGBT patients is scarce. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine HCP experiences and perspectives as they relate to patient sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) disclosure, perceived communication and structural/administrative challenges in interactions with LGBT patients, and suggestions for improving care of LGBT patients. The sample consisted of 1,253 HCPs, who provided open-ended responses to an online cross-sectional survey conducted at a Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Northeastern United States.

The Perioperative Care of the Transgender Patient.

An estimated 25 million people identify as transgender worldwide, approximately 1 million of whom reside in the United States. The increasing visibility and acceptance of transgender people makes it likely that they will present in general surgical settings; therefore, perioperative health care providers must develop the knowledge and skills requisite for the safe management of transgender patients in the perioperative setting. Extant guidelines, such as those published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the University of California San Francisco Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, serve as critical resources to those caring for transgender patients; however, they do not address their unique perioperative needs.

Intersectionality and the LGBT Cancer Patient.

Objectives: To present the ways in which race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation interact in the context of cancer risk, access to care, and treatment by health care providers. Cancer risk factors, access to care, and treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients are discussed within the context of intersectionality and cultural humility.

Data Sources: Peer reviewed articles, cancer organizations, and clinical practice.

A Communication Training Program to Encourage Speaking-Up Behavior in Surgical Oncology.

Patient safety in the OR depends on effective communication. We developed and tested a communication training program for surgical oncology staff members to increase communication about patient safety concerns. In phase one, 34 staff members participated in focus groups to identify and rank factors that affect speaking-up behavior.

Interrater reliability of the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT).

Objective: To assess the interrater reliability (IRR) and usability of the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the relationship between PEMAT scores and readability levels.

Methods: One hundred ten materials (80 print, 30 audiovisual) were evaluated, each by two raters, using the PEMAT. IRR was calculated using Gwet's AC1 and summarized across items in each PEMAT domain (understandability and actionability) and by material type.