Attitudes of healthcare professionals in treatment decision-making for older adults with cancer: a scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION: The number of older adults with cancer is increasing worldwide.

These patients’ unique care needs, arising from comorbidity, polypharmacy and frailty, often necessitate healthcare professionals (HCPs) to rely on their own attitudes and assumptions to a greater extent when making decisions due to limited evidence.

Differences in patient and HCP attitudes can impact treatment decisions and patient outcomes.

There is limited research, however, on HCP attitudes in treatment decision-making for older adults with cancer.

This scoping review aims to explore the attitudes of HCPs in treatment decision-making for older adults with cancer.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The electronic databases PubMed, Elsevier Embase, Medline (from Embase) and EBSCO CINAHL Complete will be searched on 4 July 2023 to identify eligible studies based on the developed inclusion and exclusion criteria.

No restrictions on study period, geography or language will be applied.

Screening and data extraction will be completed independently by teams of two reviewers, with conflicts resolved by a third reviewer.

The review findings will be presented as tables and in a narrative summary.

This scoping review follows the framework of Arksey and O’Malley with the Levac extension.

Data extraction and analysis will be performed to identify patterns and gaps in the literature to provide an overview of the attitudes of HCPs in treatment decision-making for older adults with cancer.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is needed.

The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at conferences, providing insights to improve treatment decision-making for older adults with cancer and guide future interventions for HCPs in geriatric oncology.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Registered on Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/T7FD3.