Impact of Sick Peer Relation on Adaptation to Disease and on Treatment of Cancer-suffering Adolescents & Young Adults (PAIRS-AJA)

Impact of Sick Peer Relation on the Adaptation to Disease and on Treatment of Cancer-suffering Adolescents and Young Adults (PEERS-AYA)

Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer have to deal with a relatively segmented organization of care between pediatric and adult medicine structures in France. However, the third french Plan Cancer 2014-2019 helped in the recognition of the specificities of the AYA affected by cancer and allowed the creation of specific structures in some care units in France, whose primary goal is the preservation of the social link.

Indeed, peer relations contribute to access to quality social support, which is an important variable in patient adjustment with cancer. The adolescents that perceive higher social support report less psychological distress and exhibit higher adaptation scores.

It nevertheless happens that AYA experience negative social support, often from friends because of contact reduction during the disease. Patients can then elect to turn towards non-intimate relations such as support groups. The main risk when a AYA with cancer defines a sick peer as one bringing him quality social support is the installation of a sense of guilt, for example, when a young person is confronted with disease negative progress or with peer death. The more an adolescent identifies with the deceased, the more he is able to consider his own mortality.

AYA units are developing in France, creating a community of sick adolescents. These communities are precious for AYA and allow information and experience sharing, a feeling of reduced isolation and a greater emotional closeness with peers suffering from the same disease.

How is social support from peers and close friends perceived by these young people in AYA units and through the social networks? What can the consequences of the evolution of peer disease be on AYA? What is the impact of the mourning of sick peers on these young people? What are the predictors?

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cancer; Adolescent Behavior; Young Adult
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Questionnaires set all 3 months

Detailed Description

Methodology: Multicentric, prospective, not randomized study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Lyon, France, 69373
    • Centre Léon Bérard
  • Ile De France
    • Paris, Ile De France, France, 75005
      • Institut Curie - Site Paris

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 15 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Adolescents or young adults from 15 to 27 years old (included) receiving cancer diagnose or recurrence announcement.
2. Patient information and free consent signature by the patient or his legal representative(s).

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patient with any psychological, familial, sociological or geographical condition potentially hampering compliance with the study protocol.
2. Inability to understand, talk or write in French.
3. Patient individually deprived of liberty or placed under the authority of a tutor.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: AYA; Questionnaires set all 3 months and psychological interviews if needed

Other: Questionnaires set all 3 months; This longitudinal study based upon repeated and multicentric measurement will recruit AYA with cancer in care Units dedicated to them or not. Measures will be quantitative, and repeated every 3 months by questionnaires, as well as qualitative (social network questionnaire, psychological research interview) for teenagers declaring a negative event or a death event during treatments. Those patients presenting a high depression score will be contacted by a research psychologist for semi-directed interview.; Other Names: Psychological interviews

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social support on patients psychological adjustment	Compare the social support received and its effects on psychological adjustment in AYA unit groups versus groups without AYA unit (socio-demographic questionnaire).	4 years
Social support on patients psychological adjustment	Compare the social support received and its effects on psychological adjustment in AYA unit groups versus groups without AYA unit (BDI-II questionnaire).	4 years
Social support on patients psychological adjustment	Compare the social support received and its effects on psychological adjustment in AYA unit groups versus groups without AYA unit (STAI-Y questionnaire).	4 years
Psychological adjustment & quality	Compare psychological adjustment in the 2 groups and its quality according to important events (positive or negative) that affect sick peers (STAI-Y questionnaire).	4 years
Psychological adjustment & quality	Compare psychological adjustment in the 2 groups and its quality according to important events (positive or negative) that affect sick peers (BDI-II questionnaire).	4 years
Predictors of the grief quality	Define if there are predictors of the grief quality: personality? Attachment? Other life events? Depression? Nature of the link with dead peers? (RSQ questionnaire).	4 years
Predictors of the grief quality	Define if there are predictors of the grief quality: personality? Attachment? Other life events? Depression? Nature of the link with dead peers? (SSQ6 questionnaire).	4 years
Predictors of the grief quality	Define if there are predictors of the grief quality: personality? Attachment? Other life events? Depression? Nature of the link with dead peers? (BFI-Fr questionnaire).	4 years
Grief phenomenon (real or virtual life)	Describe the grief phenomenon and observe if there are demonstrations of grief when the peer was never met in person (ITG questionnaire).	4 years
Grief phenomenon (real or virtual life)	Describe the grief phenomenon and observe if there are demonstrations of grief when the peer was never met in person (SEC questionnaire).	4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Institut Curie
• Collaborators: University of Paris 5 - Rene Descartes
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Valérie LAURENCE, MD, Institut Curie Paris; Study Director: Cécile FLAHAULT, PhD, Université René Descartes, Paris

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Phan J, Vander Haegen M, Karsenti L, Laurence V, Marec-Berard P, Cordero C, Thisse A, Riberon C, Flahault C. Psychological Adjustment, Adaptation, and Perception of Social Support in French Adolescents and Young Adults After the Diagnosis of Cancer. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2023 Jun;12(3):389-397. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2022.0034. Epub 2022 Sep 6.
• Phan J, Laurence V, Marec-Berard P, Cordero C, Riberon C, Flahault C. The Place of Sick Peers in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: Advantage, Disadvantage, and What Makes Barriers to the Encounter. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2023 Dec;12(6):879-889. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2022.0176. Epub 2023 Mar 30.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 7, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 25, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): January 25, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 2, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 24, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): May 28, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 11, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: IC 2017-10

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No