Following treatment, the vast majority of Pca survivors suffer from treatment-related symptomatology, specifically urinary and sexual dysfunction, in addition to facing psychosocial and practical challenges. There is a need for comprehensive programs with demonstrated efficacy to help patients cope with these challenges. We propose to develop and evaluate a comprehensive and innovative multimedia program designed to facilitate the post-treatment transition into survivorship. The design of the proposed intervention, the Virtual Survivorship Resource Center for Prostate Cancer (VSRC-PC), will be theoretically based on the team's Cognitive-Social Health Information Processing Model. The VSRC-PC will focus on promoting adaptive coping within four key post-treatment domains: 1) Physical Dysfunction (e.g., physical symptoms); 2) Emotional Well- Being (e.g., fear of recurrence); 3) Interpersonal Concerns (e.g., sexual intimacy issues); and 4) Practical Barriers (e.g., medical follow-up challenges). Content for these domains will be organized in a virtual resource center and will consist of: 1) provision of related information through text, graphics, voice-overs, and animation; 2) videos of health care experts answering frequently asked questions; 3) videos of prostate cancer survivors describing their experiences and modeling competencies and coping strategies; and 4) skills training to improve communication between Pca survivors and family and healthcare providers. Program content will be developed through literature and evidence-based content review, expert input, and input from multi-ethnic survivor focus groups. To ensure adequate and appropriate program content and optimal functionality, an iterative process of review, revision, and user and usability testing will be employed. Intervention efficacy will be evaluated through a two-arm, prospective randomized controlled trial. A total of 600 patients will complete the study. Data will be collected at baseline, and at 1-, 3- and 6- month follow-up. The primary outcome variable will be adaptive coping, and the secondary outcome will be maladaptive coping. A theory-based test of mediators of intervention effects (e.g., self-efficacy), and moderators (e.g., monitoring style) will also be performed. The proposed research will be the first RCT to evaluate not only a comprehensive but also highly disseminable and self-sustaining intervention for facilitating post-treatment adaptation among early-stage Pca survivors.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among US men and treatment effects pose formidable quality of life and health care problems for men transitioning from active treatment to early follow-up. Yet, few interventions focus on this pivotal transition. We propose an innovative, self-paced web-based educational program to facilitate prostate cancer survivors' skill training and enhance their self-coping skills. The intervention has great potential to improve survivors' quality of life using a format that is easily accessible and readily portable for wide dissemination in the health care delivery system.
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