INTERACTIVE CANCER SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

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DESCRIPTION: Patients have a high need for information regarding symptoms associated with their cancer; however, the desire for information is frequently not met. Decreasing time available to clinicians to educate patients suggests the critical need for developing alternative methods for educating cancer patients. Interactive media technology offers an exciting solution to this problem. The major purpose of this competitive renewal is the development of a symptom management educational program for cancer patients utilizing interactive media technology. The Interactive Symptom Management Program will include information on the major symptoms associated with cancer and cancer treatment including pain, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, dyspnea etc. Use of multi-media technology offers several advantages that may enhance the efficacy of these programs compared to other formats including the ability to: (1) present concrete objective information, based on Self-Regulation Theory, in a variety of formats including text, graphics, and full motion video; (2) teach and model coping and self-care skills; (3) simulate typical situations to enhance learning such as asking key questions to insure learning, providing opportunities for "virtual" practice of skills, and providing interactive situations for learning communication and problem solving skills; (4) tailor the information presented to key patient characteristics including diagnosis, stage of disease and treatment regimen in order to provide information that is maximally relevant to the patient at a particular point in time and to minimize irrelevant information; (5) allow the patient to interact with the program to tailor the depth of information presented based upon their individual learning/coping style; and (6) print out a summary and recommendations for self-management techniques based upon the material reviewed. The program will be evaluated in a randomized study in which patients will be assigned to: (1) Interactive Symptom Management Program; (2) Written Symptom Management Program; or (3) Standard Care. The applicants hypothesize that: (1) Patients in the Multi-Media and Written Symptom Management conditions will both demonstrate greater increases in knowledge of symptoms (higher Side Effect Knowledge scores) compared to the Standard Care group and (2) Patients in the Interactive Symptom Management group will have higher levels of self-care behavior (higher Self-Care Behavior Scores), more effective coping (lower scores on the Symptom Distress Scale and Profile of Mood States), and higher overall quality of life (higher Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scores) compared to the Written Symptom Management and Standard Care groups.