Harold Urman, PhD, President of Vital Research, and Janet Lee, EdM, Senior Data Scientist, co-authored an article examining the attributes of lung and colorectal cancer survivors and their healthcare providers who participated in an important multi-year research study on shared- and self-care for cancer survivors.
The article, titled “Baseline characteristics of survivors, primary care clinicians, and oncologists in a randomized trial of a shared care, self-management intervention for cancer survivors,” was published in Supportive Care in Cancer.
Key Findings
The research team enrolled 404 cancer survivors across 15 clinical practice sites in Southern California and collected comprehensive baseline data from survivors, primary care providers (PCPs), and oncologists. The study revealed several critical insights:
- Quality of life challenges persist for survivors. Despite most survivors reporting high levels of physical functioning and social support, they experienced lower emotional and functional well-being scores. Lung cancer survivors reported particularly lower quality of life across multiple domains compared to colorectal cancer survivors.
- Care coordination gaps between providers. While PCPs and oncologists reported minimal problems with transferring care responsibilities, there were notable variations in their perceptions of communication. For example, oncologists sometimes provided cancer care summaries to PCPs, but PCPs often expected to receive them, highlighting potential misalignment in care coordination expectations.
- Survivors face ongoing challenges in accessing timely care. Despite reporting moderate overall scores for their cancer care experiences, survivors indicated particular difficulties with getting timely appointments and receiving adequate support for managing treatment effects.
The study demonstrated the feasibility of conducting complex survivorship interventions using telehealth, successfully enrolling participants throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The diverse participant population included survivors with a mean age of 63 years, representing the racial and ethnic diversity of Southern California.
About the Research
The study was conducted in collaboration with Maria Berkeley, Yi Xiao, Betty Ferrell, Anne Reb, Marc Debay, Stuart Miller, Linda Lucero, Anne Charity Hudley, and Virginia Sun from City of Hope, University of California at Riverside, Stanford University, and patient partners. This multi-site randomized controlled trial represents a significant contribution to understanding the baseline characteristics and needs of cancer survivors as they transition from active treatment to survivorship care.
The research was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and reflects a comprehensive approach to understanding the complex needs of cancer survivors and their healthcare providers.
For more information about the study, please see the full article in Supportive Care in Cancer.
To learn more about Vital Research’s work in healthcare evaluation and clinical trial support, please contact our Partner working in this area, Harold Urman, PhD.