Expanding access to cancer peer support: development of a website to deliver written peer support that meets patients' individual emotional and informational needs while reducing potential harms.

Cancer patients often want information from "peers" with the same diagnosis or treatment. To increase access to this valuable resource, we developed a website to deliver written peer support to cancer patients undergoing stem cell transplant. Because little evidence describes how to optimize benefits or reduce potential harms of written peer support, we gathered multiple forms of stakeholder feedback to inform the website's ethical approach, personalization, design, function, and content: a Community Advisory Board; a longitudinal study of patients' written peer support needs and motivations; focus groups; semi-structured interviews; and usability testing.

Optimizing use of written peer support as a supportive resource in cancer: Focus group insights.

Purpose: Cancer survivors frequently describe wanting to learn from others who have had similar diagnoses or treatments (peer support). We conducted focus groups to investigate hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors' attitudes and preferences regarding accessing written peer support through a website. Although written peer support does not allow for interpersonal interactions with peers, it could increase transplant recipients' access to evidence-based benefits of informational and emotional peer support.

Rationale and usability findings of an e-health intervention to improve oral anticancer adherence among breast cancer survivors: The My Journey mindfulness study.

Background: Approximately 80% of breast cancer survivors are prescribed oral endocrine therapy (ET) medication for 5-10 years following primary treatment, making adherence to ET a critical aspect of cancer survivorship care. Despite the benefits of ET, non-adherence is problematic, and up to half of breast cancer survivors ave been documented to discontinue ET early. Our team developed , an online, mindfulness-based program designed to improve adherence to ET.

Unmet Spiritual Care Needs in Women Undergoing Core Needle Breast Biopsy.

Objective: Spiritual care is an important part of healthcare, especially when patients face a possible diagnosis of a life-threatening disease. This study examined the extent to which women undergoing core-needle breast biopsy desired spiritual support and the degree to which women received the support they desired.

Methods: Participants (N = 79) were women age 21 and older, who completed an ultrasound- or stereotactic-guided core-needle breast biopsy.

Persistent breast pain in post-surgery breast cancer survivors and women with no history of breast surgery or cancer: associations with pain catastrophizing, perceived breast cancer risk, breast cancer worry, and emotional distress.

Persistent breast pain (PBP) is prevalent among breast cancer survivors and has powerful negative psychological consequences. The present study provided a first test of the hypothesis that: (a) pain catastrophizing, (b) heightened perceived risk of cancer, and (c) worry that pain indicates cancer may be independent mediating links between breast cancer survivors' experiences of PBP and heightened emotional distress. We assessed levels of PBP and psychological factors in breast cancer survivors (Survivor Group:  = 417; Stages I-IIIA; White = 88.

Higher symptom burden is associated with lower function in women taking adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer.

Objective: To explore the impact of symptoms on physical function in women on adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer.

Methods: Eligible women were postmenopausal, had hormone receptor positive, stage I-IIIA breast cancer, completed surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and on adjuvant endocrine therapy. At a routine follow-up visit, women (N = 107) completed standardized symptom measures: Brief Fatigue Inventory, Brief Pain Inventory, Menopause Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Neurotoxicity scales.

The relationship between holding back from communicating about breast concerns and anxiety in the year following breast biopsy.

Purpose: Evidence suggests open communication about breast cancer concerns promotes psychological adjustment, while holding back can lead to negative outcomes. Little is known about the relationship between communication and distress following breast biopsy. Design/ Sample: Women (N = 128) were assessed at the time of breast biopsy and again one week and three, six, and 12 months post-result.

Optimizing delivery of a behavioral pain intervention in cancer patients using a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial SMART.

Background/aims: Pain is common in cancer patients and results in lower quality of life, depression, poor physical functioning, financial difficulty, and decreased survival time. Behavioral pain interventions are effective and nonpharmacologic. Traditional randomized controlled trials (RCT) test interventions of fixed time and dose, which poorly represent successive treatment decisions in clinical practice.

Behavioral interventions may prolong remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Unlabelled: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs) are chronic, relapsing and remitting gastrointestinal conditions with no known cure. Previous studies have linked behavioral factors, including stress and medication adherence, to relapse.

Purpose: We sought to determine the effect of participation in a behavioral self-management program on incidence of flare within 12 months following behavioral intervention when compared to the natural history of flare incidence prior to program participation.