Symptom Management for YA Cancer Survivors

Summary

Symptom interference is common for survivors of young adult cancer (aged 18-39 at diagnosis) and impacts their abilities to achieve normative life goals (e.g., education, careers, independence, romantic/social relationships) as well as adhere to recommended follow-up care. Assistance with symptom management has been rated by young adult survivors as an important and unmet healthcare need; however, skill-based symptom management interventions have typically been tested among older cancer survivors and have not targeted the unique developmental needs of those diagnosed as young adults. The proposed research advances the health and wellbeing of young adult cancer survivors by creating a developmentally appropriate hybrid in-person/mHealth behavioral symptom management intervention which addresses variables (i.e., symptoms and symptom interference) consistently linked to significant social, economic, and health burden.

Conditions

• Cancer
• Young Adult
• Pain
• Psychological Distress
• Fatigue
• Breast Cancer
• Melanoma
• Hematologic Cancer
• Germ Cell Tumor
• Endocrine Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral Symptom Management for Young Adult Cancer Survivors

The intervention includes group sessions held over Zoom along with an integrated mobile application to provide participants with instruction in cognitive and behavioral strategies for managing symptoms (i.e., pain, fatigue, distress). The developed intervention includes 8 face-to-face group sessions (12 therapy hours). Sessions are delivered using a faded contact approach (i.e., sessions 1-6: weekly, sessions 7-8: biweekly). Participants receive secure access to a study-specific mobile application that includes: 1) audio and video files and brief text-based educational content reviewing strategies discussed during the groups; 2) the ability to self-monitor symptom severity; 3) the ability to connect with group members via a social networking platform; and 4) activity tracking synchronization.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Duke University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Caroline S Dorfman · Duke University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

39 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-22

Primary Completion

2024-06-15

Completion

2024-06-15

Countries

• United States

Study Locations