Psychosocial
Support for People with Cancer
State of the
Art has received Phase I Funding from the National
Cancer Institute to develop “Psychosocial Support
for People with Cancer (PSPC).” The goal of the
project is to educate cancer survivors about the benefits
of formal and informal psychosocial support. PSPC will
include a four-videotape/DVD set, a companion booklet
for survivors, and a facilitator’s guide for
professionals. The materials will teach people with
cancer the importance of a support team and how to
build and to use their team to improve survivorship.
The
overall goal of PSPC is to motivate cancer survivors
to access psychosocial support. PSPC will complement
existing cancer education materials by showing how
the patient’s life can be positively affected
by psychosocial support. PSPC will show how psychosocial
support can be beneficial to them from diagnosis
to long-term survivorship. Two tapes, one for men
and
one for women, will focus the newly diagnosed and
treatment phases. Two tapes, one for men and one
for women, will
focus on post-treatment and long-tern survivorship.
The video component will use a documentary approach
to profile cancer survivors utilizing a variety of
psychosocial support. A diversity of cancers and
races as well as a variety of treatments will be
represented.
The profiles will portray how cancer survivors benefited
from using psychosocial support and how they overcame
common barriers to accessing their social support
system or psychosocial support services.
A print booklet
will be a complementary resource
that the patient will be able to use as a reference
for
more didactic information on psychosocial support.
It will define and describe different types of
support and how to access them. It will include contact
information
for national organizations that offer support and
services for cancer survivors.
The facilitator’s
guide will inform health professionals on the topics
that are addressed
in the patient materials,
and how to follow up and reinforce the program
messages. The guide will offer suggestions about
appropriate
times and situations where PSPC could be implemented
and what sort of outcomes to expect. This will
enable health care professionals to integrate PSPC
into their
programs and take full advantage of the materials.
Our
nationally recognized board of advisors for this
project includes:
- Ysabel Duron, Cancer Survivor,
Executive Director, Latinas Contra Cancer, Anchor,
KRON New San Francisco
- Dr. Clifford Hudis, MD,
Associate Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer
Center, New York,
NY
- Kathryn Taylor, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Division of Cancer Prevention and Control,
Lombardi Cancer
Center, Georgetown University, Washington,
DC
- Debra Thaler-Demers, OCN, PHN, Staff
Nurse III, Peterson Center for Cancer
Treatment,
San Jose,
CA
- Kathryn Walsh-Burke, Ph.D., MSW, Associate
Professor, Springfield College School
of Social Work, Amherst,
MA
- Dr. Roger Waltzman, MD, Assistant
Professor, Saint Vincent’s Comprehensive Cancer
Center, New York, NY
For more information or to become involved, please contact:
State of the Art, Inc.
phone: (202) 537-0818
fax: (202)-537-0828
Confidential and Proprietary |
