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Evaluation of question-listing at the Cancer Support Community

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

ABSTRACT

The Cancer Support Community (CSC) provides psychosocial support to people facing cancer in community settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the compatibility, effectiveness, and fidelity of the Situation–Choices–Objectives–People–Evaluation–Decisions (SCOPED) question-listing intervention at three CSC sites. Between August 2008 and August 2011, the Program Director at each CSC site implemented question-listing, while measuring patient distress, anxiety, and self-efficacy before and after each intervention. We analyzed the quantitative results using unadjusted statistical tests and reviewed qualitative comments by patients and the case notes of Program Directors to assess compatibility and fidelity. Program Directors implemented question-listing with 77 blood cancer patients. Patients reported decreased distress (p = 0.009) and anxiety (p = 0.005) and increased self-efficacy (p < 0.001). Patients and Program Directors endorsed the intervention as compatible with CSC’s mission and approach and feasible to implement with high fidelity. CSC effectively translated SCOPED question-listing into practice in the context of its community-based psychosocial support services at three sites.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the patients who participated in this study. This work was supported by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Geraldine Ferraro Blood Cancer Education Program Number 5U58DP001111. None of the authors have any financial relationship with the funder. The authors control all the primary data which can be made available to the journal or other researchers through a data sharing agreement.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

    Jeff Belkora PhD

  2. Cancer Support Community - Research and Training Institute, 4219 Minstrell Lane, Fairfax, VA, 22033, USA

    Melissa Miller PhD

  3. Cancer Support Community - Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, 4918 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH, 45242, USA

    Bonnie Crawford LCSW

  4. Cancer Support Community - Philadelphia, 4100 Chamounix Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19131, USA

    Kathleen Coyne LCSW

  5. Cancer Support Community - San Francisco Bay Area, 3276 Mc Nutt Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA, 94597, USA

    Margaret Stauffer MFT

  6. Cancer Support Community - Research and Training Institute, 4100 Chamounix Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19131, USA

    Joanne Buzaglo PhD & Mitch Golant PhD

  7. Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials, 7625 Wisconsin Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    Natasha Blakeney MPH & Margo Michaels MPH

Authors
  1. Jeff Belkora PhD
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  2. Melissa Miller PhD
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  3. Bonnie Crawford LCSW
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  4. Kathleen Coyne LCSW
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  5. Margaret Stauffer MFT
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  6. Joanne Buzaglo PhD
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  7. Natasha Blakeney MPH
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  8. Margo Michaels MPH
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  9. Mitch Golant PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitch Golant PhD.

Additional information

Implications

Practice: Patient support programs should consider coaching patients to list questions using a neutral, non-directive intervention such as SCOPED, as this process is associated with positive psychosocial outcomes.

Policy: Question-listing interventions such as SCOPED are responsive to the Institute of Medicine’s call for routine integration of evidence-based psychosocial support in cancer care.

Research: Future studies should address barriers and facilitators relevant to expanding the reach and maintenance or sustainability of question-listing interventions that are adopted and implemented by community-based patient support organizations.

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Belkora, J., Miller, M., Crawford, B. et al. Evaluation of question-listing at the Cancer Support Community. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 3, 162–171 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-012-0186-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-012-0186-8

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