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Patient Empowerment by Group Medical Consultations

NCT01329068 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 320

Last updated 2012-01-20

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Carriers of a BRCA mutation have a significantly increased risk to develop breast cancer in the course of their lives . They face a difficult choice: either a preventive removal of the breast(s) or an intensive inspection process.

After primary treatment of breast cancer, patients will be followed for 5-10 years to diagnose recurrence or a new primary tumor in an early stage; to support the patient during hormonal treatment; to educate the patient about risk factors and healthy life style; and to provide psychosocial support.

Currently, follow-up of breast cancer patients and surveillance of BRCA mutation carriers is offered in regular, one-to-one medical visits. Experience shows that in an individual visit it is often not possible to give all aspects that are important, enough attention. The group medical consultation (GMC) is a new form of medical visits where the physician or nurse practitioner performs a series of one-to-one consultations in the presence of 8 to10 other patients. A social worker accompanies this process. Patients in group consultations may gather more information because they learn from each other and there is relatively more time compared to a regular consultation. Research shows that both patients and caregivers are more satisfied with care after a group consultation compared to individual visits. After a GMC the participants from the breast cancer GMCs will be provided with a dedicated iPad for 3 months. Using this iPad, patients can contact the women they have met during the GMC as well as health care professionals by several communication channels, including virtual group meetings. This approach provides a unique combination of both social support and professional education concerning survivorship in an e-health environment.However, it is also known that group sessions may be counterproductive for some patients, for example because they are frightened by the stories of others. The goal of this study is to examine whether group visits (in combination with dedicated iPads) are beneficial to women with a BRCA mutation and for patients in follow-up after breast cancer.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

individual consult

regular individual consultations

BEHAVIORAL

group medical consult

group medical consult

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Radboud University Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • H.W.M. van Laarhoven, Md PhD · Radboud University Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2011-04-30
Primary Completion
2014-02-28
Completion
2014-02-28

Countries

  • Netherlands

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01329068 on ClinicalTrials.gov