Supportive Care And Patient Empowerment In The Cancer Context.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$863,910.00
Summary
This Senior Principal Research Fellowship will develop and evaluate system-wide interventions to improve psychosocial outcomes of Australians diagnosed with cancer, including Chinese-speaking immigrants; identify long-term challenges for cancer survivors; explore the impact of having multiple gene testing; and evaluate interventions to empower patients to make informed choices regarding cancer treatment.
Enhancing Communication Between Medical Oncologists And Patients With Advanced Malignancy Considering Clinical Trial Participation, With A Focus On CALD Populations
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$92,335.00
Summary
In the advanced stages of cancer, some patients will need to choose between multiple options - they might wish to pay for an expensive but unfunded drug, they may consider taking part in a clinical trial or opt to stay at home and focus on the time they have. This project will aim to help patients make these difficult decisions with their clinicians, and will have a focus on those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as they face additional barriers to trial entry.
Improving QOL At The End Of Life: A Randomised Controlled Trial Of A Doctor-nurse-patient Intervention.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$687,655.00
Summary
This project aims to promote mutual understanding between patients with incurable disease, carers and clinicians about prognosis, end of life issues and treatment goals in order to improve the quality of remaining life. Currently many patients do not understand their prognosis and make poor decisions about treatment, receiving costly, futile and invasive treatments just days before death. This project will empower patients and doctors to better discuss these issues.
Preparing Cancer Patients For Clinical Decision Making: A Randomised Trial Of Preconsultation Preparation Packages.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$228,427.00
Summary
Most cancer patients in Australia now expect and are told their cancer diagnosis. There is considerable variation in the extent to which patients are informed about treatment options and are involved in treatment decisions. It can be argued that a treatment decision should be based on the oncologist's knowledge and the patient's preference. Two possible models can achieve this optimal outcome: the oncologist decides treatment on the basis of information passed on to him-her from the patient (the ....Most cancer patients in Australia now expect and are told their cancer diagnosis. There is considerable variation in the extent to which patients are informed about treatment options and are involved in treatment decisions. It can be argued that a treatment decision should be based on the oncologist's knowledge and the patient's preference. Two possible models can achieve this optimal outcome: the oncologist decides treatment on the basis of information passed on to him-her from the patient (the enabled doctor), and the patient chooses treatment based on informaton provided by the doctor (the empowered patient). We have developed a booklet on 'how treatment decisions are made'. In a randomised trial, patients seeing an oncologist for the first time are given the booklet and shown a video of ' their' oncologist interviewing an actor patient. The subsequent consultation is audiotaped to study the effect of these interventions on patient and doctor behaviour. The results of this trial will inform the development of our new patient educational materials. We now plan to develop consultation preparation packages. Patients will be sent information at least 48 hours before their first appointment with an oncologist with the goal of helping patients to achieve their preferred involvement in the consultation. The complete package will contain four components : a booklet on how treatment decisions are made including an outline of the two treatment decision models, a question prompt sheet and recommendation to prepare a list of questions, a booklet on Patient Rights, and an introduction to the Cancer Centre. The effects of the total package, and of just the Cancer Centre component on patient preferences for information and involvement in medical decisions, their consultation behaviour, and patient and doctor satisfaction with decision making will be studied in a randomised trial with control patients receiving no preparatory materials.Read moreRead less
Improving Outcomes For People With Cancer: Consultation Skills Training With Oncologists
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$499,070.00
Summary
Each year approximately 30,000 Australians die from cancer and 65,000 new cancers are diagnosed. Despite much research for a cure for cancer, the incidence and mortality from cancer has not changed. New treatments now cause people with cancer to live longer with the disease, so we now need to focus on efforts to optimise the quality of life of these people. Although the emotional burden on patients and families is recognized, there is a sense that this is an inevitable by-product of the disease ....Each year approximately 30,000 Australians die from cancer and 65,000 new cancers are diagnosed. Despite much research for a cure for cancer, the incidence and mortality from cancer has not changed. New treatments now cause people with cancer to live longer with the disease, so we now need to focus on efforts to optimise the quality of life of these people. Although the emotional burden on patients and families is recognized, there is a sense that this is an inevitable by-product of the disease and its management in existing clinical systems. However, this does not need to be the case. There is now ample evidence that the way that doctors interact with their patients can effect the accuracy of diagnosis and prognosis, as well as patients' satisfaction, adherence with treatment instructions and quality of life after being diagnosed with cancer. Both patient advocate groups and clinicians have called for further training for doctors to effectively manage psychosocial aspects of cancer care, however, despite this support, there have been few opportunities for such training in Australia. We have developed an innovative consultation-skills program for oncologists. So that the effectiveness of the project can be evaluated, it will be implemented as a randomised controlled trial with oncologists from major Australian cancer clinics being randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. The training program will be delivered by videoconferencing, to overcome many of the barriers that have impeded busy clinicians from participating in previous training programs. This is the first international study to use videoconferencing between remote locations for this type of consultation skills training. A variety of measures will be used to evaluate the impact of the training, including patients' quality of life, anxiety, depression and perceived needs, and oncologists' burn-out.Read moreRead less