Enhancing Survivorship Care Planning for Patients with Localized Prostate Cancer Using A Couple-focused Web-based Tailored Symptom Self-management Program

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PROJECT SUMMARY Supporting NIH's mission, this project aims to explore a new model of care that enhances survivorship care planning and promotes health for patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa) transitioning to post-treatment self-management. Survivorship care planning for patients with PCa is important because of the high incidence rates of PCa in the U.S., the frequent occurrence of treatment-related side effects, and reduced quality of life (QOL) in both patients and their partners (for patients who are partnered). Emerging evidence suggests that use of regular survivorship care plans (SCPs) does not improve health service and patient outcomes because the content in mandated SCPs does not consider patients' information and care needs. We plan to integrate an evidence-based, theory-driven symptom self-management program, Prostate Cancer Education & Resources for Couples (PERC), with standardized SCPs and build enhanced SCPs (ESCPs). ESCPs will engage both patients and partners during survivorship care planning and provide a one-stop, comprehensive PERC program to improve their QOL and decrease patient use of post-treatment care services. The couple-focused, web-based tailored PERC program includes 12 online modules with assignments, a moderated chat room and a resource center. Tailored to patients' and partners' characteristics and preferences to address their specific care needs, PERC helps couples reduce negative appraisals of symptoms, increase access to social support, and enhance self-efficacy and health behaviors for symptom self-management. In this study, we propose to test the feasibility of ESCPs (regular SCPs with the PERC web link) and to conduct an initial benefit assessment of ESCPs. We will use a two-group (ESCP=intervention and SCP only=negative control) randomized controlled pretest-posttest design and collect data at baseline (T1) and 4 months later (T2) among 50 patients completing initial treatment for localized PCa and their partners. The specific aims are: Aim 1: Examine the feasibility of delivering ESCPs (as assessed by recruitment, enrollment, and retention rates, satisfaction with ESCP, and perceived ease of use of PERC). We will use mixed methods to achieve this aim. Aim 2: Estimate the magnitude of benefit of ESCPs. We hypothesize that, compared with the SCP only users, the ESCP users will report (1) greater improvement in their primary outcomes of QOL (overall, physical, emotional, and social QOL); (2) greater improvement in secondary outcomes (reduction in negative appraisals and improvement in self-efficacy, social support, and health behaviors to manage symptoms); and (3) fewer visits to post-treatment care services from between T1 and T2. The results from this study will help design a definitive randomized trial to test the efficacy of ESCP. The innovative ESCPs will strengthen survivorship care planning and allow PERC to be disseminated broadly and systematically without the need for costly resources or personnel. This proposed project is in response to calls for programs from the Institute of Medicine and American Cancer Society to address treatment-related effects and help cancer survivors maintain their QOL.