Breast Cancer Care: Pilot Forum For Mental Health Providers
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Non-technical overview of the event and relevance to breast cancer: The proposed event is an educational conference aimed to help a diverse group of mental health providers broaden their practical knowledge about the physical, emotional, hormonal and sexual side effects of breast cancer treatments, so they have the basic information needed to provide high quality and compassionate care to their breast cancer patients. In turn, we hope to gain an understanding from participating psychotherapists about what aspects of the teachings were most useful and what persistent gaps exist in their knowledge about breast cancer, so the forum can be improved and re-implemented in future years. Finally, we will generate a list of interested participating psychotherapists who would be eager to take on more breast cancer patients in their practice, and distribute this list to oncologists. As a result, breast cancer patients will be directed to mental health providers who have an up-to-date basic knowledge about their disease and the common struggles of breast cancer patients.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Description of event structure and intended audience: The event will be planned by a working-advising group consisting of the principal investigator, co-principal investigator, two breast cancer advocates and two community psychotherapists. The intended audience for the conference will be community mental health providers. Using a variety of community resources, we will aim to attract a diverse group of mental health providers from a variety of practice settings, across difference communities, and representing diversity of race, ethnicity, age and sexual orientation, which often parallels the patient population of the provider. The educational forum will consist of a one-day event, with 6-8 short educational lectures by specialists in the field, followed by moderated open discussion among participants about the information provided and its use in a psychotherapy practice. Surveys will be conducted before and after the conference to determine the gaps in knowledge prior to the forum, information gained through the seminars, and participant views about the use of such a forum.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Innovative elements of the event and potential to generate new ideas/facilitate collaboration: The proposed conference is an innovative event that will facilitate collaboration among oncologists, surgeons, psychiatrists, mental health providers, and breast cancer advocates, all with the shared interest of improving patient access to skilled mental health providers who are knowledgeable about breast cancer. The event is also novel in that it will serve to educate and generate further thought about a comprehensive range of challenges unique to breast cancer patients, from the physical to hormonal, cognitive, emotional, relational, sexual, and psychosocial realms. The conference will facilitate discussion across a diverse group of participants and instructors, which will provide meaningful insight about improving mental health care for breast cancer patients, from the perspective of the physician, psychotherapist and patient.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Advocacy involvement: Advocates will serve a central role in this conference. They will be involved in the working-advising group for planning the event, they will assist with acquiring participants for the forum, and they will provide a very meaningful perspective during the discussions held at the educational forum. We hope their participation at the forum will provide a humanistic and experiential viewpoint that providers will find valuable and educational.