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Developing a readiness self-assessment tool for low- and middle-income countries establishing new radiotherapy
Andrew Donkor1, Tim Luckett2, Sanchia Aranda3
1IMPACCT (Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia; National Centre for Radiotherapy, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana.
Purpose:
Assessing low-and middle-income countries' (LMICs') readiness to establish new radiotherapy services is an important but empirically understudied concept. The purpose of this study is to develop and confirm a core set of readiness requirements and criteria that can be used to gauge LMICs preparedness to establish radiotherapy services.
Methods:
Based on a systematic review and semi-structured expert interviews, a pool of requirements and criteria were generated. To confirm or disconfirm these items, we adopted a synthesised member checking process, also known as participant validation. A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit radiotherapy experts. Items were sent via email. Each item was reviewed by participants. Qualitative comments were analysed thematically.
Findings:
Seven of the 17 experts who participated in an earlier semi-structured interview contributed to this participant validation study. The final version of the readiness self-assessment tool for LMICs establishing new radiotherapy services contains 37 requirements mapped into four readiness domains, grouped under the following categories: commitment; cooperation; capacity; and catalyst. Among 23 criteria for commitment domain, participants reviewed 22 as relevant for inclusion. The cooperation requirements considered important, included: "strategic planning team", "stakeholder involvement" and a "technical assistance plan". Capacity requirements, which were endorsed included: "responsible project manager"; "availability of radiotherapy expertise"; and "training for initial core staff". Participants' feedbacks supported the inclusion of all the requirements and criteria related to catalyst.
Conclusion:
The readiness self-assessment tool is a promising planning and evaluation tool for use by stakeholders interested in expanding access to radiotherapy services in LMICs.
