@article{48a473716fc54f5a9ebb9cb821a036a8,
title = "Eat All Through Radiation Therapy (EAT-RT): Structured therapy model to facilitate continued oral intake through head and neck radiotherapy—User acceptance and content validation",
abstract = "Background: To develop and examine user acceptance and content validity of a structured program to facilitate safe but challenging oral intake during radiotherapy (RT) delivered by a speech language pathologist (SLP)—the Eat-All Through Radiation Therapy (EAT-RT) program. Methods: EAT-RT was developed through expert consensus of SLPs at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (Canada) and M D Anderson Cancer Center using a conceptual framework of a diet hierarchy and a mealtime routine. EAT-RT was refined by practicing SLPs, and then disseminated for a 4-week clinical pilot at seven sites who were subsequently invited to participate in an online survey. Results: Twelve SLPs from six sites piloted EAT-RT therapy with a median of eight patients (IQR: 2-15) before and/or during RT. All SLPs reported EAT-RT added value to their practice, harmonized well with exercises, and its content was helpful; 11 (92%) reported EAT-RT facilitated patient understanding and indicated the desire to continue using EAT-RT. Conclusion: The EAT-RT program was accepted by North American SLPs. The findings support the content and value of EAT-RT to facilitate oral intake in patients with head and neck cancer throughout RT.",
keywords = "dysphagia, head and neck cancer, radiation, supportive care, swallowing therapy",
author = "Hutcheson, {Katherine A.} and Andrea Gomes and Veronica Rodriguez and Denise Barringer and Maisha Khan and Rosemary Martino",
note = "Funding Information: The authors thank Laurie Graham, MHSc who first developed and implemented the concept of the diet level staircase as a clinical tool for patient education at the University Health Network around 2007. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of speech language pathologists at the University Health Network including Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Center (PMCC, Toronto, Ontario), University of Texas M. D Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC, Houston, Texas), Boston Medical Center (Boston, Massachusetts), Beth Israel Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, New York), University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin), Jewish General Hospital (Montreal, Quebec), and London Health Science Centre (London, Ontario) for their participation in development, refinement, and clinical pilot of the EAT-RT program. The authors also acknowledge editorial efforts of the Patient Education Departments at the PMCC and MDACC, as well as medical illustration at PMCC. The authors also acknowledge PROACTIVE trial stakeholders facilitated by Dr Margaret Fitch at The University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Dr Cameron MacDonald and the Qualitative Health Research Center (QHRC, Madison, Wisconsin) for their review of the EAT-RT program and therapy materials. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
year = "2020",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/hed.26250",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "42",
pages = "2390--2396",
journal = "Head and Neck",
issn = "1043-3074",
publisher = "Wiley-Liss Inc.",
number = "9",
}