Girgis, A., Breen, S., Stacey, F., & Lecathelinais, C. (2009). Impact of two supportive care interventions on anxiety, depression, quality of life, and unmet needs in patients with nonlocalized breast and colorectal cancers. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 27, 6180–6190.
To determine if patients assigned to either of two interventions for supportive care would report decreased levels of anxiety, depression, and unmet supportive care needs compared to patients receiving usual care
Patients were surveyed via computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) to provide feedback to a telephone caseworker (TCW) or the patient’s physician at baseline, three months, and six months. The information obtained from the CATI was used to provide feedback to the caseworker in the TCW model, or to the physician in the oncologist/general practitioner (O/GP) model. In the TCW model, participant feedback information from CATIs was forwarded to the caseworker via email. The TCW then contacted participants to address areas of concern and refer to appropriate resources. In the O/GP model, feedback generated from the CATIs was mailed to both oncologists and GPs for discussion with the patients at the next appointment.
A randomized controlled trial design was used.
No overall intervention effect was observed. TCW participants were more likely to have referrals for unmet psychological needs, daily living, health service/information, and physical needs (p < 0.01).
Findings suggest that use of a TCW can be helpful in improving supportive care in terms of communication and provision of referrals for care in patients with cancer. Neither of the models tested demonstrated any significant intervention effect for anxiety, depression, or quality of life over the time frame of this study.
Additional research in this area should incorporate at-risk populations at a time closer to diagnosis. Results suggest that CATIs and involvement of caseworkers may be helpful to enhance supportive care and patient communication with providers.