Breast cancer patients’ perceptions of a virtual learning environment for pretreatment education

The process and technicalities of radiation therapy (RT) for cancer treatment can be challenging for patients to understand as RT involves complex procedures, highly specialised equipment, and radiation itself has limited sensory characteristics. Hence, it is imperative that education programs are specifically planned and developed to suit the needs of patients, address radiation as an entity and include salient visual aids. In this context, the Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training (VERT) system, primarily created for RT practitioner simulation, may provide unique opportunities for patient education. This article reports on patient feedback of a newly developed breast cancer patient education program, which integrates the VERT system as the focal education tool. The education program content included RT immobilisation, simulation, planning and treatment components, along with an introduction to the VERT system. Nineteen breast cancer patients (n = 19) completed an evaluation questionnaire at the completion of their VERT education program. Open-ended questions were used to detect the least and most useful aspects of the education session. Patient feedback indicated a high regard for the comprehensiveness of the education program, with particular acknowledgement of the three dimensional visual features of the VERT system. It is proposed that VERT’s high visual impact should be exploited in tailored patient education programs in order to obtain maximum patient engagement and make significant gains in effective knowledge transfer.