Breast Cancer, Psychosocial Effects of Cancer and Its Treatment
Conditions
Keywords
recurrent breast cancer, psychosocial effects of cancer and its treatment
Brief summary
RATIONALE: Telephone counseling by breast cancer survivors may enhance the well-being and quality of life of women who have recurrent breast cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized clinical trial to study the effectiveness of telephone counseling by breast cancer survivors on the well-being of women who have recurrent breast cancer.
Detailed description
OBJECTIVES: * Determine whether telephone counseling delivered by breast cancer survivors enhances the well-being of women with recurrent breast cancer. * Determine the impact of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial predictors of well-being in these patients. * Determine the changes in well-being over time since disease recurrence in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to age (under 50 vs 50 and over), time since initial diagnosis (less than 2 years vs 2 years or more), and recurrence site (soft tissue without bone vs soft tissue with bone vs visceral). Patients are randomized to one of two study arms. * Arm I (control arm): Patients receive the standard level of support by continuing to use existing resources. Patients receive written materials from the counseling group at 6 months. * Arm II (intervention arm): Patients receive weekly telephone counseling sessions by breast cancer survivors over 4 weeks for a total of 4-8 sessions. Patients receive written materials from the counseling group after the first session. In both arms, quality of life is assessed at baseline and at 3 and 6 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 300 patients (150 per study arm) will be accrued for this study within 30 months.
Interventions
PROCEDUREpsychosocial assessment and care
Questionnaire and telephone intervention
Sponsors
SWOG Cancer Research Network
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Received prior definitive surgical treatment for stage I-IIIa breast cancer with or without adjuvant chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and/or radiotherapy * No more than 56 days since diagnosis of first recurrence * Any distant metastatic site, chest wall recurrence, scar recurrence, or nodal recurrence * No ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence after lumpectomy or isolated contralateral new primary breast tumors * Receiving or planning to receive first therapy for recurrence * No prior therapy for this recurrence except surgical treatment for in-breast relapse after lumpectomy or local palliative radiotherapy * Hormone receptor status: * Not specified PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: * Not specified Sex: * Female Menopausal status: * Not specified Performance status: * Not specified Life expectancy: * Not specified Hematopoietic: * Not specified Hepatic: * Not specified Renal: * Not specified Other: * No psychiatric diagnosis that would preclude study * Must be able to read and understand English PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: * See Disease Characteristics Chemotherapy: * See Disease Characteristics Endocrine therapy: * See Disease Characteristics Radiotherapy: * See Disease Characteristics Surgery: * See Disease Characteristics
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Assess effectiveness of a telephone intervention delivered by breast cancer survivors on well-being of patients experiencing a first recurrence of breast cancer | 6 months |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Examine impact of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial predictors of well-being in patients experiencing a first recurrence of breast cancer. | 6 months |
| Examine changes in well-being over time since recurrence | 6 months |
Countries
Canada, United States
Outcome results
None listed