Cognitive Testing of Tobacco Use Measurement Items for Administration With Cancer Patients and Survivors
Condition: Lung Cancer; Prostate Cancer; Bladder Cancer; Thymic Cancer
MeSH terms: Thymus Neoplasms
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Background:

      - People who have cancer have more medical problems if they smoke. Some studies show that
      smoking even makes cancer treatment less effective. Researchers want to teach people about
      how tobacco use affects people after a cancer diagnosis. They want to come up with questions
      for people who have cancer and who have survived cancer. The questions will be about using
      cigarettes and other tobacco products and about second-hand smoke.

      The questions will be used to understand how using tobacco affects people with cancer before,
      during, and after treatment. This will help doctors plan how to treat people with cancer and
      create programs to help people quit smoking in the future.

      Objective:

      - To evaluate and refine questions that assess tobacco use.

      Eligibility:

      - Adults age 21 or older who have cancer or are cancer survivors. The cancer can be at any
      site and any stage.

      Design:

        -  This study will take about 1 hour.

        -  Participants will meet one-on-one with an interviewer. They will fill out a
           questionnaire and talk about the questions. Participants will explain how easy or hard
           it was to answer the questions and how they decided on their answers.

        -  All participants will be asked the same or very similar questions. Specific questions
           will be based on the participants own experiences with tobacco products.

        -  There will be no follow-up activities.
    

Detailed description: 
      Background:

      Studies comparing cancer patients who smoke cigarettes at the time of diagnosis to former or
      never smokers have demonstrated increased difficulty with surgical wound healing and more
      treatment morbidity; reduced radiation and chemotherapy efficacy; reduced time to recurrence,
      progression, and second primary cancers; and increased mortality. Some studies have found
      that smoking interacts with cancer therapy efficacy.

      Cigarette smoking is prevalent among patients with lung and head and neck cancers, with rates
      as high as 40% to 60% as of the time of diagnosis. The rate of smoking among cancer survivors
      has been estimated as 21% for lung cancer survivors and 39% for survivors of other
      cancers.(11)

      Only 22% of NCI-funded phase III trials conducted by Cooperative Groups record patients
      cigarette smoking status among patients at the time of enrollment, and 4% record cigarette
      smoking status during follow-up.

      We need to examine the impact of tobacco use on a wider range of therapeutic regimens and
      settings, with more detailed longitudinal tobacco use assessment. Research in this area is
      impeded by inadequate assessment of tobacco use after cancer diagnosis and a lack of valid,
      harmonized measures that are tailored to the trajectory of cancer diagnosis, treatment and
      survivorship.(15) The NCI-AACR Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Assessment Task Force formed in
      2013 to develop recommendations for assessing tobacco use by cancer patients. The long- range
      goal of the Task Force is to advance the state of knowledge about the effect of tobacco use
      after a cancer diagnosis, to inform cancer treatment decision-making and to guide patients
      and providers regarding the timing and clinical significance of tobacco cessation.

      Objectives:

      To evaluate and refine proposed questionnaire items that assess tobacco use.

      Eligibility:

      Cancer patients with any disease site, stage, and extent of prior therapy and age greater
      than or equal to 21 years.

      Design:

      This study will evaluate and refine proposed questionnaire items that assess tobacco use in
      the cancer patient and survivor population. This study is purely qualitative. No research
      hypotheses will be tested in this study. There will be no therapy, administration of
      agent(s), or imaging administered as part of this study. Participants will only be asked to
      answer questions and then discuss their answers to the questions.

      Patients who consent will participate in a session that will last up to one hour. They will
      complete a questionnaire about tobacco use and answer debriefing questions so that the
      interviewer can assess question comprehension, ease of answering, and accuracy of response.
    

Intervention name(s): Participant interview
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): People with cancer and who have survived cancer will have a 1 hour interview about using cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Adults aged 21 or older who have cancer or are cancer survivors. The cancer can be at any
        site and any stage.
      
Keywords: Qualitative Data; Questionnaire