Depressionis one of the most common psychological comorbidities experienced throughout the cancercontinuum. Elevated depressive symptoms in oncology patients is a major concern as unmanaged depressive symptoms in cancer patients is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), poor adherence to cancer treatments, delayed return to work and baseline function, greater emergency department visits, greater risk of suicide, and higher all-cause mortality. Behavioral interventions for the management of depression are efficacious, but scalability and implementation of these evidence-based interventions in oncology is limited. Health interpretation capture behavioral populations. information technologies (HIT) provide an ideal opportunity t o expedite the administration, scoring, and of depression screening with well-validated, brief and precise measurement tools that can actionable data to screen for depression, and deliver pragmatic and scalable evidence-based interventions that are proven to reduce depressive symptomatology across various other Despite the benefits of these HITs,use of technology-based models to screen and deliver evidence-based behavioral treatments that address the depressive symptoms in cancer remains underdeveloped and poorly implemented. We will evaluate the effectiveness and the implementation of an evidence-based HIT behavioral treatment for cancer patients with elevated depressive symptoms. This HIT treatment combines systematic, electronic health record-integrated screening for depressive symptoms with an individually-tailored HIT interventions to address gaps in the treatment of depression among cancer patients. The study takes place across two distinct health systems in two major metropolitan areas?Chicago and Miami (Northwestern Medicine and University of Miami Health System).
We aim to conduct a pragmatic Type I effectiveness-implementation hybrid trial of My Cancer Support?an evidence-based, tailored behavioral HIT program for the management of elevated depressive symptoms?in ambulatory oncology care settings within two large health systems. We will establish the effectiveness of My Cancer Support on depressive symptoms(i.e., primary outcome) and anxiety, HRQoL, and health services use (i.e. secondary outcomes) compared to usual care. We will evaluate the process of implementing My Cancer Support and its impact on patient and system-level outcomes, including reach, adoption, maintenance, and acceptability. Next, we will identify facilitators and barriers to wide-scale implementation of My Cancer Support beyond Northwestern Medicine and University of Miami Health System. Finally, we will explore whether the effects of My Cancer Support vary across SES, language, disease severity, severity of depressive symptoms, recruitment sites, and other patient and clinical characteristics.

Public Health Relevance

Project Depression cancer Therefore, Narrative is one of the most common psychological comorbidities experienced throughout the continuum and undiagnosed or untreated depression is problematic in oncology settings. the goal of this study is toevaluate a behavioral treatment for diverse cancer patients with elevated depressive symptoms in ambulatory oncology settings.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
1R37CA255875-01
Application #
10099456
Study Section
Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Study Section (DIRH)
Program Officer
Chou, Wen-Ying
Project Start
2021-03-01
Project End
2026-02-28
Budget Start
2021-03-01
Budget End
2022-02-28
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2021
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611