Testing A Tailored, Evidence-based Education Intervention To Enhance Outcomes For Patients Commencing Chemotherapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$311,250.00
Summary
This project tests an innovative education program aimed at reducing the physical and psychosocial burden experienced during a course of cancer chemotherapy. The aim of the study is to reduce the burden and distress associated with cancer chemotherapy. Cancer chemotherapy is associated with physical (nausea, fatigue, hair loss, infection) and psychosocial (fear, anxiety, worry about family) effects that cause significant distress. Patients experience a highly level of pre-treatment anxiety and f ....This project tests an innovative education program aimed at reducing the physical and psychosocial burden experienced during a course of cancer chemotherapy. The aim of the study is to reduce the burden and distress associated with cancer chemotherapy. Cancer chemotherapy is associated with physical (nausea, fatigue, hair loss, infection) and psychosocial (fear, anxiety, worry about family) effects that cause significant distress. Patients experience a highly level of pre-treatment anxiety and for many this distress lasts across the course of treatment. Over the past decade there has been a dramatic shift in chemotherapy delivery to the outpatient setting. This means that patients are now responsibile for monitoring their own health at home and may need to use self-care strategies to deal with the many adverse effects of treatment. Pre-treatment education has usually focused on providing information about the facts of treatment, i.e. likelihood of nausea, rather than preparing the patient for the experience of treatment or helping them to manage the self-care demands associated with receiving treatment in the outpatient setting. The innovative education program tested here is the first of its type to draw on high level research evidence about preparing patients for potentially threatening medical procedures, tailoring this education to the individual situation of the patient and coaching the patient to implement evidence-based self-care behaviours and to use stress reduction techniques across the course of treatment.Read moreRead less
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