NEWS

Cancer's Impact and the Best Time for Intervention

From diagnosis through treatment, care giving, and survival to hereditary risk, little is known about the impact of cancer on family members and where to intervene to help them and their loved ones. To start filling that gap, NCI has funded 10 new projects. The one-time grants of $100,000 each were awarded in 1999 by the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences through administrative supplements to the Clinical and Comprehensive Cancer Centers program. The projects follow in alphabetical order by state:

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., Jamie Ostroff, Ph.D., program director: identifying the psychological and social needs and barriers to services experienced by family care givers and patients with head and neck cancer. The second phase will assess a one-day workshop intervention.

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pa., Sharon Manne, Ph.D., program director: pilot testing the efficacy of a six-session psychological-educational group intervention with wives of prostate cancer patients.

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pa., Michael Diefenbach, Ph.D., program director: exploring culturally sensitive communication strategies for discussing prostate cancer risk status and promoting recommended prostate cancer screening with wives of men at high risk for prostate cancer. The second phase will develop and pilot test a brochure intervention targeted to spouses with the goal of enhancing adherence to recommended screening for men at high risk.

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., John Garofalo, Ph.D., program director: pilot testing the efficacy of an individual four-session, written, emotional-expression intervention with adult daughters of breast cancer patients.

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., Ellen Redinbaugh, Ph.D., program director: pilot testing the efficacy of a five-session stress and coping intervention for family care givers of cancer patients in hospice.

The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, Cindy Carmack, Ph.D., program director: developing and pilot testing a measure to assess areas of intimacy likely to be affected by cancer treatment with wives of prostate cancer patients. A later phase will assess quality of life, in part through a questionnaire.

Vermont Cancer Center, Burlington, Vt., Bruce Compas, Ph.D., program director: investigation of multiple domains of psychological and social adjustment, such as interpersonal relationships, coping and emotional distress, in adolescent and adult daughters of breast cancer patients.

Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, Va., Elizabeth Fries, Ph.D., program director: pilot testing an existing model of a low-intensity dietary intervention to reach rural, high-risk first degree relatives of colon cancer patients.

University of Virginia Cancer Center, Charlottesville, Va., Mark Shaffrey, M.D., program director: examining the relationship between cognitive impairment of brain tumor patients and care giver distress in 20 family care givers of patients with malignant brain tumors. The second phase of the project will pilot test a problem-solving skills intervention.

University of Wisconsin Cancer Center, Madison, Wisc., Marilyn McCubbin, Ph.D., program director: a survivor-focused family study investigating many types of psychological and social adjustment, such as adaptation and positive coping factors, that contribute to resiliency and recovery in parents of childhood cancer survivors. Families will be recruited from an established childhood cancer survivors' Web site.



             
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