Docherty Submits Research Application

Shannon Docherty and her entire team submitted an application to Alex's Lemonade Stand entitled "Peer and Parent Coaching Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults with Pediatric Cancer Transitioning into Survivorship." The proposal requests funding for a three-year period with a start date of Feb.1, 2018.

Abstract:

Childhood cancer incidence rates begin to rise after the school-age years and cancer among adolescents has increased over the past decade. Approximately 80% of adolescents with cancer will survive into young adulthood. This population of cancer survivors face distinct and at time grave challenges because in their school-age or teen years they were treated for cancers with unique biologic characteristics that influenced response to treatment, and a life course transition period with unpredictable developmental and health care transformations. Survivors of school-age and adolescent cancers face psychosocial and health care disparities compared to survivors treated earlier in childhood or as adults. They face higher levels of depression and anxiety, PTSD, setbacks in education, behavioral adjustment problems, poorer self-image, psychological distress, are less likely to marry and experience higher lost productivity and annual health care expenditures. In addition, the intensive treatments faced by adolescents with cancer requires a renewed dependence on parents for support and decision making. Within legal, cultural, and developmental realms, parents are lead decision makers, advocators, and supporters for their teen undergoing cancer treatment.  Once adolescents approach the age in which transition to young adulthood becomes critical in (18-21 years), parents are challenged by an urgency to rapidly alter their role from active decision making agent to one more closely aligned with support and encouragement, while contending with their own conflicting emotions of joy and anxiety related to their child's post-treatment survivorship. A peer-based coaching intervention for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors and their parents is a novel approach to addressing the challenges of transitioning to adulthood and survivorship for both the adolescent and parent. This intervention utilizes an established telephone/text based secure interface to allow AYA survivors to access the knowledge, experience, and instrumental and emotional guidance from a peer coach who has already made this transition and for their parent to receive coaching from an experienced parent.

The purpose of this study is to employ a randomized controlled trial design to pilot test this adolescent and parent peer coaching intervention in a sample of 20 dyads cancer survivors (15 and 25 years) and their parents compared to an education-only comparison group of 20 dyads. We will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability of this intervention and test for preliminary efficacy trends in dyads of AYA cancer survivors and their parents. This study will lead to further refinement and multisite testing of this intervention has the potential to be deployed across a range of settings to promote the development of survivorship skills and decrease emotional distress among AYA cancer survivors and their parents.