JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common form of cancer among American women, accounting for 22% of all cancer survivors nationally. Yet, availability of adequate resources and tools for supporting BC survivors has not kept up with the rapid advancement in treatment options, resulting in unmet supportive care needs, particularly among low income and minority populations. The project explores an alternative means of delivering BC survivorship care plans (SCP), with the aim to improve survivor morbidity, patient knowledge, and self-management of treatment-related symptoms; and to address the inconsistencies in follow up care visits.

Objective:

The overall goal of this project is to improve uptake of survivorship care plan recommendations via an educational intervention for breast cancer survivors, with the aim to improve treatment-related morbidity, patient knowledge, self-management, and adherence to follow up visits. The specific aims of the study are to (1) evaluate the feasibility of the online SCP, and (2) to assess the impact of the online SCP on survivorship outcomes.

Methods:

We will enroll 50 BC survivors who have completed initial breast cancer treatment into a pilot two-armed, randomized, wait list-controlled trial, and collect data at baseline and 6 months. For the first aim, we will use mixed methods, including surveys and personal interviews among the intervention group, to determine the feasibility of providing an online, interactive SCP (ACESO), based on the survivors’ online user experience and their short-term adoption. For the secondary aim, we will compare the two groups to assess the primary outcomes of treatment-related morbidity (body weight, fatigue, depression, anxiety, sexual function, distress, and sleep quality); and the secondary outcomes of survivor knowledge, self-efficacy for self-management, perceived peer support, and adherence to SCP recommended post-treatment follow-up visits to oncology and primary care. We assess these outcomes by using measurements from validated instruments with robust psychometric properties.

Results:

We have developed and refined the online breast cancer survivorship plan (ACESO) with consultation from breast cancer oncologists, nurse, and survivors. We expect to begin enrolling participants in the following year.

Conclusions:

The results of this pilot study will inform the feasibility and design of a larger scale, pragmatic trial to evaluate the impact of an online breast caner survivorship care plan on treatment-related morbidity, and self-efficacy for self-management.