Peri-Operative Chemotherapy for Bladder Cancer: A Survey of Providers to Determine Barriers and Enablers

Utilization of chemotherapy for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is low. In earlier qualitative work we used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to determine barriers and enablers of chemotherapy use. In this project we aimed to determine the prevalence of these barriers and enablers in Canadian physicians.

Practicing Canadian urologists, medical oncologists (MOs) and radiation oncologists (ROs) participated in a specialty-specific web-based quantitative survey to assess potential barriers and enablers to chemotherapy use. Survey questions were developed that were thematically mapped to TDF domains. Logistic regression was used to identify TDF domains associated with high referral/use of chemotherapy.

110 urologists, 47 MOs and 43 ROs completed the survey; response rates were 20%, 35% and 31% respectively. The mean reported survival gain associated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) was 9%, 8%, and 7% for urologists, MOs, and ROs respectively. Among participating urologists, the TDF domains ‘social and professional role’ (OR = 16.5, 95% CI 4.6–59.2), ‘social influences’ (OR = 5.7, 95% CI 2.4–13.4) ‘beliefs about consequences’ (OR = 4.9, 95% CI 1.8–13.3) and ‘memory, attention and decision-making’ (OR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.27–0.91) were associated with MO referral rates. Among MOs, the TDF domains ‘behavioural regulation’, ‘social influences’, and ‘social and professional role’ were associated with greater use of chemotherapy (p < 0.05). No TDF domains were associated with RO referral to MO.

We have identified several factors associated with referral/use of chemotherapy for MIBC. Optimization of multidisciplinary patient care needs to be considered when designing future interventions to close the gap between evidence and practice.