Patient Preference Assessment Tool (PPAT) is a patient self-assessment questionnaire designed by Emory (US) to allow easy and rapid evaluation of patient preferences for phase 1 (P1) trial participation. Beyond being a legal requirement, informed consent has a critical role to ensure that patient’s trial participation trial matches his/her expectations and understanding of treatment options. This tool has not been independently validated yet. We therefore aimed at assessing PPAT in two cohorts of P1 and phase 2-3 (P2-3) patients (pts) treated at Gustave Roussy (France).
PPAT was translated in French and proposed to: (1) a cohort of P1 pts just before their first clinic in the P1 department, i.e. prior to trial discussion and inclusion; and (2) an independent cohort of pts recently (< 1 month) included in a P2-3 trial for advanced disease. PPAT was distributed by nurses; pts had to answer alone, by choosing 4 out of 17 proposed items, including one free commentary box.
Between December 2015 and September 2017, 51 P1 pts and 28 P2-3 pts with various tumor types agreed to fill in PPAT; 92% of them adequately completed the questionnaire. Answers to PPAT were similar between both cohorts, with no difference in any item reaching statistical significance (Chi-2 test). The three most frequent answers of our pts were: “Fighting my cancer as much as possible”, “Accessing the best treatment”, “Getting the best possible care from expert doctors” with respectively 78.4%, 64.7% and 47.1% in the P1 cohort and 79%, 61% and 64% for P2-3 pts. By contrast, the three most frequent answers in Emory’s cohort were “Feeling as good as possible every day given my condition”, “Fighting my cancer as much as possible” and “Avoiding spending lots of hours in the clinic”. Five pts answered the “free” item.
Phase I patient preferences are different between Emory and Gustave Roussy’s pts, but P1 pts' answers do not differ from P2-3 pts at Gustave Roussy. PPAT is a well-suited patient-friendly questionnaire, whose utility could be further assessed in populations from alternative cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Gustave Roussy
Gustave Roussy
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.