Preparedness and Cancer-Related Symptom Management among Cancer Survivors in the First Year Post-Treatment

Corinne R Leach; Alyssa N Troeschel; Dawn Wiatrek; Annette L Stanton; Michael Diefenbach; Kevin D Stein; Katherine Sharpe; Kenneth Portier

doi:10.1007/s12160-017-9880-6

Preparedness and Cancer-Related Symptom Management among Cancer Survivors in the First Year Post-Treatment

Ann Behav Med. 2017 Aug;51(4):587-598. doi: 10.1007/s12160-017-9880-6.

Authors

Corinne R Leach¹, Alyssa N Troeschel², Dawn Wiatrek³, Annette L Stanton⁴, Michael Diefenbach⁵, Kevin D Stein⁶, Katherine Sharpe³, Kenneth Portier⁷

Affiliations

¹ Behavioral Research Center, American Cancer Society, 250 Williams St, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA. corinne.leach@cancer.org.
² Behavioral Research Center, American Cancer Society, 250 Williams St, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
³ Cancer Control, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry/Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁵ Departments of Medicine and Urology, Northwell Health and the Hofstra Medical School at Northwell Health, Hempstead, USA.
⁶ Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁷ Statistics and Evaluation Center, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 28224276
DOI: 10.1007/s12160-017-9880-6

Abstract

Background: Many cancer survivors feel unprepared for the physical and psychosocial challenges that accompany the post-treatment care transition (i.e., re-entry phase), including management of cancer-related symptoms. Few studies have investigated personal and contextual factors associated with the extent of preparedness for re-entry or how they are related to cancer-related symptom management.

Purpose: Data from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivor Transition Study examined (1) characteristics of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors (n = 1188) within the first year of completing treatment who are most and least prepared for re-entry; and (2) how preparedness level and other characteristics are related to cancer-related symptom management.

Methods: Stanton and colleagues' [1] conceptual model of survivorship guided the selection of interpersonal/environmental, individual, and disease/treatment-related characteristics as potential contributors to levels of preparedness and cancer-related symptom management using regression tree and multivariate linear regression analyses.

Results: Survivors, on average, felt moderately prepared for the transition to post-treatment care. Lowest levels of preparedness were found among survivors with relatively high depressive symptoms, low perceived quality of oncology-provided survivorship care, and limited discussion about potential side effects with a health professional. Poorer symptom management was associated with younger age, having more comorbid conditions, and lower preparedness, social support, and spirituality.

Conclusion: Survivors who feel unprepared for the transition to post-treatment care report poorer cancer-related symptom management. Identification of factors associated with low perceived preparedness and poor cancer-related symptom management will assist in risk stratification and development of tailored interventions to meet the needs of cancer survivors during re-entry.

Keywords: Cancer survivor; Patient-reported outcomes; Preparedness; Symptom management.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aftercare*
Aged
Breast Neoplasms / psychology*
Breast Neoplasms / therapy
Cancer Survivors / psychology*
Colorectal Neoplasms / psychology*
Colorectal Neoplasms / therapy
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Satisfaction
Prostatic Neoplasms / psychology*
Prostatic Neoplasms / therapy
Self-Management / psychology*
Social Support
Spirituality

Grants and funding

N/A/American Cancer Society