Interactive Technology to Support Rural Women and Families
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: Background: Women living with breast cancer who reside in rural areas may gain greater access to support group intervention that uses videoconferencing to connect members with one another and with a trained group facilitator. We will pilot such an intervention in Plumas, Modoc, and Siskiyou Counties, using the supportive-expressive model to guide the support groups because it has been shown to be an effective style of intervention for women with breast cancer for reducing social isolation, promoting expression on an emotional level, and reducing distress. In this pilot study, this support group model will be augmented with the workbook-journal “One In Eight, which we have found in previous CRC research to be beneficial for women with breast cancer at risk for social isolation.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Objectives: 
 
 
 
 1. To determine the feasibility and acceptability of using videoconferencing to reduce rural/urban inequities in access to psychosocial support for women with breast cancer residing in three rural counties in northeastern California (Modoc, Plumas, and Siskiyou). 
 
 
 
 2. To evaluate whether the psychosocial support needs of women with breast cancer in these counties, as the women understand the needs themselves, can be met through participation in support groups via videoconferencing. 
 
 
 
 3. To promote the ongoing capacity of the communities in the target region to use videoconferencing to improve access to psychosocial support for women with breast cancer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Methods: Forty women living with breast cancer will be offered a support group intervention using videoconferencing at three NSRHN videoconferencing sites: Plumas District Hospital in Quincy, Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, and Siskiyou Family Practice in Yreka. For each woman, we will obtain her informed consent, assess her prior to the intervention on validated psychosocial measures, provide her with the 8-week support group intervention augmented by the workbook journal, “One In Eight,” and after the intervention elicit her perspective using both questionnaires and also an interview to obtain her feedback about the feasibility and utility of the intervention. The support group facilitator and the facility coordinators will also be interviewed after the support groups have taken place. These data will be analyzed to address the aims and hypotheses. We will produce a training manual for facilitating breast cancer support groups via videoconferencing. That will be made available to other communities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Impact on breast cancer: This research has the potential to inform the design and implementation of a support group intervention that would be readily accessible to women living with breast cancer who reside in rural areas. This project would expand the potential of technological modalities that are already in use in rural California counties for providing psychosocial support. This pilot study would provide us with knowledge about the feasibility of expanding this project to sixteen counties of northern California that are served by the Northern California Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Partnership. If this project is successful, it will provide a tangible model for widespread use of videoconferencing to expand access to support groups for women living in rural areas, which could lead to establishing this intervention as part of routine care for this population.