Do Community Cancer Support Groups Reduce Physiologic Stress
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: This study is designed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of two different community-based support group interventions for breast cancer patients. We plan to compare them with a model developed in the university setting, study which aspects are most effective, and who benefits the most. This proposal is based on a year-long collaborative effort with The Wellness and Cancer Support Communities, two major cancer support programs providing group interventions. 
 
 
 
 This proposal is responsive to the BCRP priority issue: Innovative Treatment Modalities. We plan to apply careful methods to understanding the effectiveness of two well-established support group programs in Northern California. This will allow us to refine and improve group interventions, and better match specific ones to those who will most benefit. We have devoted the past year to developing a close working relationship between these two community programs and the Psychosocial Treatment Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry &amp; Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. We have already done research together which shows similarities and differences in these group programs. We have also built the mutual trust necessary to allow for such systematic study. All three programs have demonstrated a strong willingness to work closely with one another, and to learn from one another. This program emphasizes diversity and community-university collaboration in developing better group support services for breast cancer patients.
 
 
 
 We will ask 96 women with recently diagnosed breast cancer at The CSC in San Francisco and The Wellness Community—East Bay in Walnut Creek to participate in the study. They will be randomly assigned (by a process like tossing a coin) at each site to their typical group program or Supportive/Expressive group therapy supervised by Stanford but administered there. We will ask participants to fill out questionnaires about their emotional distress, means of coping with cancer, social and family support, background, and evaluation of their group experience every four months for a year. Their physiological response to stress will also be measured using saliva samples. We will use this information to determine how well these groups work, and for whom they work best.
 
 
 
 There is a growing body of evidence that participating in support groups improves the quality of life of breast cancer patients. The existence of community support programs provides a means of offering such effective support rapidly and inexpensively, making it available to diverse populations of breast cancer patients. The combination of this community-based effort and university research program provides the potential for improving all of these programs and providing evidence to support health policy changes. This could lead to programs of group support throughout the state of California, offering comfort, guidance, and support to all women coping with breast cancer.