INTERACTIVE MEDIA ON BANKING SPERM BEFORE CANCER THERAPY

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DESCRIPTION: This R25/R44 proposal aims to develop a browser-based interactive product to educate both physicians and patients about banking sperm before cancer treatment. The product will have three components: 1) a didactic portion to update oncology physicians on the rationale to offer sperm-banking to all men of reproductive age; 2) a skills-training portion teaching physicians how to counsel patients and families about sperm banking; and 3) a direct patient education portion including both didactic and emotion-focused material for men and their family members. We intend to demonstrate, over the three phases of the project that sperm banking is currently underutilized, even in the highest quality patient care centers; that both oncology physicians and patients lack the knowledge to make fully informed decisions about sperm banking; and that our educational product can increase knowledge in patients and physicians, increase their positive attitudes towards banking sperm, and actually affect the rates of sperm banking in two large cancer centers. In the R25 Phase of the project, we will collect baseline data on physician knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding sperm banking by a postal survey of 230 oncology faculty physicians and fellows from the U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF). We plan to assess deficits in physician knowledge and practice that contribute to patients= failures to successfully bank sperm. We will also send questionnaires to 1,000 men aged 14 to 40 who were diagnosed and treated for cancer within the last two years of the tumor registries at MDACC and CCF. We will assess rates of sperm banking, barriers to sperm banking, knowledge about infertility and cancer, and anxieties and attitudes about parenthood after cancer, providing benchmark data for comparison to that gathered in our later interventions. We will also conduct 8 focus groups to gather qualitative data on familial, cultural, and spiritual issues regarding sperm banking. Information from the survey and focus groups will be used to complete a written script of the content for the interactive media product. It will be reviewed by a panel of experts for accuracy and appropriateness.