A Support Group Alternative for Rural and Isolated Women
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: Women diagnosed with breast cancer require immediate and continuing education and psychosocial support. Support groups, the most common forum for providing these services, are unavailable to women in rural communities and are difficult to access for women in certain isolating circumstances. The Sierra-Stanford Partnership has developed and pilot-tested an alternative form of education and psychosocial support: a Workbook-Journal. This intervention: 1) is accessible to all women with breast cancer, particularly underserved, isolated and minority women; 2) is inexpensive, for women with limited resources; 3) provides a guide to breast cancer information and support sources; 4) offers a variety of active coping strategies for women isolated by geography, age, disability, or minority status; and 5) communicates emotional support to women newly diagnosed with primary breast cancer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Based on the findings from a BCRP-funded pilot study, in this three-year study we aim to: 1) evaluate the short and long-term effectiveness of the Workbook-Journal for improving psychosocial adjustment, increasing active coping, and improving emotional support in women newly diagnosed with primary breast cancer and receiving their treatment in an HMO; 2) improve breast cancer knowledge in women newly diagnosed with primary breast cancer in an HMO; 3) explore possible predictors of rural and isolated women who would benefit most from the Workbook-Journal; and 4) assess the effects of this intervention on the number of medical care phone calls and office visits. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 We will recruit 200 women from the Breast Health Center in Kaiser, Sacramento, to participate in a randomized clinical intervention trial. Particular efforts will be made to recruit underserved, isolated, and minority women. Women will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions after a baseline assessment: Education (EDUC) or Workbook-Journal + EDUC (WKBK). Women will receive follow-ups at 3-, 6-, and 12-months. Use of psychosocial services will be tracked and frequency of medical phone calls and medical visits will be determined by chart review. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 We hypothesize that women in the WKBK condition will show better psychological adjustment (lower post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, less depression), more active coping (higher fighting spirit, less fatalism), and higher emotional support than women in the EDUC condition. We hypothesize that women in the WKBK condition will have more knowledge about breast cancer and treatment than women in the EDUC condition. We also hypothesize that women who have higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and life stress and lower levels of social support at baseline, will show more improvement after receiving the Workbook-Journal than women with lower baseline levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and life stress, and higher levels of social support. And, finally, we hypothesize that women in the WKBK condition will make fewer phone calls to their oncology providers and have fewer medical office visits than women in the EDUC condition.