An Impact Assessment of a Culturally Tailored Online Psychosocial Program for Chinese Immigrant Women With Breast Cancer

Summary

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an online psychosocial self-help program for Chinese immigrant women with breast cancer, by comparing Chinese immigrant women who receive the online psychosocial program and those who do not receive the program.

The investigators want to understand if this online psychosocial program is effective in helping Chinese immigrant women to feel more supported, understand that the distress is normal, engage in self-care activities, become aware of the community resources, feel more confident about returning to a normal life, and feel less distress overall as they return to life after treatment. This information will help us to better understand these Chinese immigrant women's needs and concerns and plan future growth of the program to meet their personal, cultural, and language needs.

Conditions

• Breast Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intervention Arm

Participants randomized to the Intervention Arm will be provided with the website link to the online self-help program and a questionnaire and a distress survey. They will be asked to use the website within two weeks and then to complete these documents after using it and mail them back in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Same documents will be administered at the 3-month follow-up period, and the participant will be given two weeks to complete and return it in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Additionally, participants will also be asked in the 3-month follow-up questionnaire if they are interested in attending a focus group to elaborate on their experience with the psychosocial self-help program. Those who have expressed an interest will be contacted. The focus groups will last about 1-1.5 hours and consist of 3-4 participants. Focus groups will be audio-taped and conducted in either English or Chinese.

BEHAVIORAL

Control Group

Participants randomized to the Control group will receive standard care (no intervention). They will be used as a baseline to compare groups and assess the effect of the intervention (i.e., the online psychosocial program). At the two weeks following randomization (T1) and the 3-month follow-up periods (T2), they will be asked to complete the questionnaire and distress survey and return them in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Participants will be given two weeks to complete the questionnaire and distress survey. The same documents will be administered at the 3-month follow-up period (T2). Once the 3-month follow-up is completed, each participant will be provided with the website link to view the self-help program.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Health Network, Toronto

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Terry Cheng · Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-10-01

Primary Completion

2024-12-31

Completion

2024-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations