None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
People affected by colorectal cancer are often dealing with comorbidities and health complexity placing them at greater risk of fragmented healthcare. Research is needed to identify and evaluate supportive care tools that can assist individuals and families/whanau to better manage colorectal cancer treatment, chemotherapy-related toxicities and survivorship in the context of long-term conditions. This study pilots a chronic-care intervention based on The Flinders Program. It explores the acceptability, feasibility and initial utility of an outpatient clinic-based self-management support intervention provided during cancer treatment.
Interventions
The intervention involves administration of The Flinders Program at the Wellington Blood & Cancer Centre. Approximately fifty eligible patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer will be randomised into intervention and control groups after completing an initial assessment. Those in the intervention group will be given three cancer coaching sessions with a trained coach over 3-months during regularly scheduled outpatient treatment appointments.
The Flinders Program is a set of generic tools
The intervention involves administration of The Flinders Program at the Wellington Blood & Cancer Centre. Approximately fifty eligible patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer will be randomised into intervention and control groups after completing an initial assessment. Those in the intervention group will be given three cancer coaching sessions with a trained coach over 3-months during regularly scheduled outpatient treatment appointments. The Flinders Program is a set of generic tools and processes enabling health professionals and health consumers to undertake a structured process that allows for assessment of self-management behaviours, collaborative identification of problems and goal setting leading to the development of individualised care plans (Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit, 2005). Each 30-60 minute cancer coaching session involves discussions centred around the person, not the disease. Support provided attempts to encourage collaboration and problem-solving; ideally resulting in increased resilience, information sharing, referral (if appropriate) and care planning.
Sponsors
University of Otago Wellington
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
45 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Aged 45 years or older; * Confirmed diagnosis of primary colorectal cancer, stage 2 or 3 or fully resected stage 4, who are receiving adjuvant chemotherapy; * No previous cancer diagnosis (other than a non-melanoma skin cancer); * No apparent or reported physical or mental distress that would deem the trial be overly burdensome; * No apparent or reported impaired ability to comprehend the intervention and assessments; * No history of taking part in Flinders or lay-led self-management programmes * Resident of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Exclusion criteria
There are no exclusion criteria related to socioeconomic status, ethnicity or gender. Exclusion criteria include: * Aged 44 years and younger * Confirmed diagnosis of any cancer except colorectal cancer * Previous cancer diagnosis * High distress levels * Impaired ability to comprehend the intervention and assessments * History of taking part in Flinders or lay-led self-management programmes
Outcome results
None listed