The Sexual Health of Rectal Cancer Patients

Summary

We know that treatment for rectal, colorectal or anal cancer can impact sexual function. This study aims to learn:

* How the treatment affects emotional and social well-being.
* How a new sexual health educational program affects you.

Cancer patients seek education for lots of reasons. It often helps them cope because they can express their feelings with a trained professional. This study is open to individuals who have been treated for rectal, colorectal or anal cancer. It involves a new type of sexual health counseling program. It will teach participants skills that they can use to improve their sex lives. These skills may also improve physical and emotional well-being. We will compare the new type of sexual health program with the standard care patients receive after treatment for rectal, colorectal or anal cancer.

Conditions

• Rectal Cancer
• Rectum

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

questionnaires

Participants randomized to the Usual Care arm will receive standard care . For women, this is defined as the care that participants who are not in the intervention receive; we will ask these participants what psychosocial care they are receiving to track usual care. For men, "usual care" will consist of a standardized referral to the men's Sexual Medicine Program at MSKCC and written information in the form of the American Cancer Society (ACS) booklet on Sexuality after Cancer. Individuals randomized to Usual Care will not receive any additional counseling sessions from the study interventionists until they are done with the follow up interviews and then it will be offered to them. Follow up questionnaires will assess all study participants at 4 and 8 months after baseline.

BEHAVIORAL

CSI-SH- Cancer Survivorship Intervention

This involves four 1-hour individual sessions with three additional telephone booster/review sessions provided in between the four sessions. Sessions can be completed in person or conducted over the phone. Although every effort will be made to complete the booster session in between counseling sessions, if the patient is unavailable to complete the booster calls they may be skipped. Sessions one and two will focus on rehabilitation techniques and tools will be provided and discussed with participants during these first two sessions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  collaborator OTHER

• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Christian Nelson, PhD · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-06-24

Primary Completion

2024-11-21

Completion

2024-11-21

Countries

• United States

Study Locations