Testing of the Cancer Thriving and Surviving Breast Cancer Program (COSS)

August 21, 2020 updated by: Manuela Eicher

Co-creating and Testing the Reach and Effectiveness of an Integrated Peer-to-peer Self-management Program for Breast Cancer Survivors: a Pilot Study

The adjusted Cancer Thriving and Surviving Program (CTS) for women with breast cancer living in Switzerland (CTS-BC-CH) is a course of 7 weekly sessions of 2.5 - 3 hours led by trained peer-leaders (women with breast cancer experience). This pilot study aims to explore the reach of the CTS-BC-CH program (integrated into the clinical pathway) and to investigate its preliminary effectiveness with regard to Swiss breast cancer patients' self-efficacy and self-management.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

In 2016/17, the self-management program for cancer survivors, the Cancer Thriving and Surviving Program (CTS) was translated into German. The content of the CTS was adapted to breast cancer specific needs in three interdisciplinary workshops based on a participatory approach including active patient engagement. Additional disease-specific topics were developed and confirmed applying a multi-stakeholder e-rating approach. After a consensus meeting with the participation of breast cancer survivors, health care professional and international experts in the field of self-management, consensus on the program was reached in June 2017, resulting in the CTS-BC-CH program, i.e. a standardized manual for course leaders.

This pilot study aims to explore the reach of the CTS-BC-CH program (integrated into the clinical pathway) and to investigate its preliminary effectiveness for female Swiss breast cancer patients. The CTS-BC-CH is delivered in two breast cancer centers in in the German-speaking part of Switzerland as a group-based program with seven weekly sessions of 2.5 - 3 hours led by trained peer-leaders. Course leaders have to complete a 4-days training provided by certified master trainers. First, participants are enrolled for usual care, followed by participants who will attend the CTS-BC-CH course. Participants will complete self-reported questionnaires at three time points over a period of 6 months.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

39

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Basel, Switzerland, 4031
        • University Hospital Basel
      • Bern, Switzerland, 3010
        • University Inselspital Bern

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion breast cancer patients

  • female gender
  • written informed consent
  • aged 18 years or older
  • diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer (stage 0, stage I, stage IIA, stage IIB, and stage IIIA breast cancers)
  • completed primary therapy (i. e. surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy)
  • at the beginning of follow-up care (including long-term endocrine therapy or targeted therapy)
  • free of recurrence
  • mentally able to participate, assessment of the psychological state performed by the responsible psychologist/psycho-oncologist in the breast center
  • treated in the participating breast center

Inclusion course leaders

  • female gender
  • written informed consent
  • aged 18 years or older
  • diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer (stage 0, stage I, stage IIA, stage IIB, and stage IIIA breast cancers)
  • > than 2 years post diagnosis
  • free of recurrence
  • mentally able to participate, assessment of the psychological state performed by the responsible psychologist/psycho-oncologist in the breast center
  • treated in the participating breast center
  • willing to participate in a course leaders training

Exclusion breast cancer patients and course leaders

  • participation in another psycho-social intervention study
  • known illiteracy (reading and writing difficulties)
  • lack of language proficiency (German)

Inclusion breast care nurses for CTS-BC-CH implementation

  • female gender
  • employed at breast care center > 1 year
  • participation in 4-days CTS-BC-CH course leader training

Inclusion breast care nurses for evaluating self-management support practices

  • nurses: graduated with a nurses diploma > 1 year of breast cancer care experience

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Usual care
Usual follow-up care offered in the breast centers after primary treatment by breast care team (e. g. breast care nurses, gynaecologist, oncologist, psychologist).
Experimental: Usual care and CTS-BC-CH
CTS-BC-CH as 7 weekly group session à 2.5 - 3 hours.

CTS-BC-CH is a standardized program with 7 weekly group sessions (2.5. to 3 hours). The CTS-BC-CH focuses on building skills, sharing experiences, and support among the participants.

Program elements are: Brainstorming, action plan formulation, action plan feedback, problem solving, and decision making.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reach of intervention assessed by ratio of eligible patients vs. participating patients
Time Frame: 21 weeks after baseline
21 weeks after baseline
Changes in self-management skills assessed by heiQ
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Assessed by the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ)
Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in patient-reported self-efficacy assessed by SES6G
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Assessed by the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease Scale (SES6G)
Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Change in patient-reported health literacy assessed by HLS-EU-Q6
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Assessed by the Health Literacy Scale Europe (HLS-EU-Q6)
Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Change in patient-reported symptom burden assessed by BCPT Symptom Scales
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Assessed by the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) Symptom Scales
Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Change in patient-reported health service navigation assessed by heiQ
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Assessed by a subscale of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ)
Change from baseline to 20 weeks after baseline
Change in nurse-reported self-efficacy and self-management support practices assessed by SEPSS
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 30 weeks after baseline
Assessed by the Self-Efficacy and Performance in Self-management Support (SEPSS) measure
Change from baseline to 30 weeks after baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Study Director: Manuela Eicher, Prof. Dr., Institute of Higher Education and Reserach in Health Care - IUFRS University of Lausanne and University Hospital of Lausanne
  • Study Director: Joerg Haselbeck, Dr., Swiss Cancer League Berne; Formely: Careum Stiftung, Kompetenzzentrum Patientenbildung
  • Study Chair: Karin Ribi, Dr. phil., International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG)
  • Study Chair: Corinne Urech, Dr. phil., University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
  • Study Chair: Karin Holm, Patient Advocats for Cancer Reserach and Treamtment (Association PARCT)

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 12, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 15, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

August 15, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 1, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 28, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

August 29, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 24, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 21, 2020

Last Verified

August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ULausanne

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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