Paws for thought..? A case study of a breast cancer patient with Asperger's syndrome and her experience of radiotherapy

Abstract

Keywords: Radiotherapy, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, breast cancer, on treatment review, learning difficulties ,anxiety, therapy radiographer, advanced practice, communication Introduction: In the UK there are 700,000 adult and children who are autistic (1).Each autistic person will have certain difficulties but it effects each person individually. The Society of Radiographers (SoR) has general advice for diagnostic radiographers regarding how to meet the needs of autistic patients (2). As a therapy radiographer this has been helpful in meeting the needs of a patient with Asperger's syndrome. It would be helpful to have advice for therapy radiographers as in most cases we may treat them for more than one day. This case study highlights the experience of a patient with Asperger's syndrome who cannot read or write and her experience of radiotherapy in our department and also the barriers that we faced in meeting her needs. Methods and materials: At the patients on treatment review I realised the patients needs were not being met I started to document the barriers that myself and the staff met in managing the patients needs daily and on treatment reviews. What lesson we learnt from each interaction. Results: Outlined four main barriers in managing the patient through the radiotherapy pathway; time, environment, language and routine. Highlighted the lessons learnt from these barriers and areas for developing practice. The importance of routine and familiar surroundings to reduce anxiety for the patient. Conclusion and discussion: the patient used squishies to help her anxiety whilst in the department. I have given squishies to other anxious patients which has helped them greatly. More knowledge of how to support patients with autism through the radiotherapy pathway. Awareness of the barriers facing patients with autism and learning difficulties. To develop a guide on patients with autism for therapy radiographers. It was very important to the patient that staff learnt about her experience so that the next patient with autism would have a better experience of the radiotherapy pathway from the beginning. Patient is still contact with me and posts me her drawings occasionally. Numerical