Grant Number:	3R37CA240807-05S1 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Devine, Katie
Organization:	Rutgers Biomedical And Health Sciences
Project Title:	Bright Ideas-Young Adults: Problem-Solving Skills Training to Reduce Distress Among Young Adults with Cancer
Fiscal Year:	2024

Project Summary/Abstract This application is being submitted in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified as “NOT-CA- 24-041: Administrative Supplements for Assessing and Enhancing Survivorship Care.” The goal of this proposed supplement is to examine the extent to which survivorship care for young adults (ages 18-39) with cancer aligns with the recently developed National Standards for Survivorship Care and to identify barriers and facilitators for obtaining high-quality survivorship care in this group. Young adults with cancer have unique emotional, social, and practical needs relative to other age groups due to the intersection of cancer treatment and normal developmental processes. The transition from cancer treatment into survivorship follow-up care can be challenging for young adults. In particular, the delivery of survivorship care is often fragmented and there is a lack of coordination between providers who are often not even in the same health system. Existing data indicates that young adult survivors report persistent unmet practical, emotional, and social needs that negatively impact their quality of life many years into survivorship. The parent award aims to address the diverse and extensive needs of young adults newly diagnosed with cancer by evaluating a problem-solving skills training intervention called “Bright IDEAS-Young Adult” (Bright IDEAS-YA). This intervention provides a skill to effectively manage the stressors of cancer care. The aims of the parent award aims are to evaluate the efficacy of the Bright IDEAS- YA on psychosocial outcomes, determine the extent to which problem-solving ability mediates treatment effects, and explore moderators of treatment effects (i.e., sex, financial strain, unmet needs, baseline distress). A total of 344 young adults with cancer were enrolled in the parent award and are being followed for two-years post- enrollment. The ultimate goal is to improve quality of life outcomes for young adults with cancer. This proposal is consistent with the aims of the parent award and logically extends the work to understand the transition to survivorship care and its impact on young adults’ quality of life. This proposed supplement offers a very timely and meaningful opportunity to fill an identified gap in cancer survivorship research by gathering rich qualitative data from young adults at the time of their transition into survivorship care, rather than retrospectively recalling the transition. The aims of the supplement are to determine the extent to which survivorship care for young adults aligns with the National Standards for Survivorship Care and to identify barriers and facilitators for obtaining high-quality care. The approach will include mixed methods, conducting in-depth interview to supplement survey data among a subset of participants enrolled in the parent trial. Results will guide future intervention development tailored to address the unique survivorship care needs of young adults.





None. See parent grant details.