The empathy project: Staff confidence and training needs in psychosocial patient care

Radiation Therapists (RT) must balance highly technical procedures and psychosocial patient care during their daily work practices. While RTs are in a unique position to form rapport with patients and provide support and information, many RTs lack confidence in the psychosocial care of patients, and struggle to identify and address emotional cues. This study aimed to assess the confidence, competence, and training needs of RTs regarding psychosocial patient care.

All RTs at the Radiation Oncology Princess Alexandra Hospital Deparmtents were invited to participate in an electronic survey in May 2021, and May 2023 via email. The survey was distributed using SurveyMonkey and utilised a series of Likert-scale and open-ended questions.

Staff reported high confidence in addressing technical treatment issues (98 % of respondents) and communicating with anxious (78 %) and distressed (78 %) patients. However, lower confidence was indicated with managing patient conflict (58 %) and communicating with patients who were depressed (53 %) or suffering mental health conditions (74 %). Staff were concerned about saying the wrong thing and experienced stress when they couldn't adequately communicate with patients requiring psychosocial support. The most significant barriers to providing adequate psychosocial care included time, staff numbers, and workload. Staff requested training in emotional cues, communication, anxiety and depression, and understanding psychosocial and mental health conditions.

While staff perceptions and motivations of psychosocial care were overwhelmingly positive, further training is required to improve patient psychosocial care. Future steps include implementing psychosocial training resources in the departments, and reassessing staff confidence post training.