Im and Chee Submit NIH R01 Application

Kudos to Eun-Ok Im, associate dean for research development and regulatory affairs; and Wonshik Chee, associate professor; and their entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 application entitled "Cancer Pain Management for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Culturally Tailored Technology-based Program." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of April 1, 2020. 

Racial/ethnic minority breast cancer survivors reportedly have lower quality of life. A major reason for their lower quality of life is postulated as inadequate management of pain. Indeed, many racial/ethnic minorities tend to suffer unnecessarily from pain that could be easily managed using currently existing pain management strategies. Their cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes have been pointed out as a primary barrier to their adequate pain management. Furthermore, a recent opioid crisis in the U.S. made their hesitance of managing pain increase drastically. However, survivorship programs that are increasingly instituted at cancer centers have serious impediments to providing information and coaching/support related to cancer pain management mainly due to lack of staff time. Furthermore, the pressure of fast-paced clinical patient-provider interactions leaves little time for health care providers to provide up-to-date information and coaching or support for these women based on their cultural attitudes.

All these circumstances necessitate an innovative and creative delivery method of information and coaching/support. A technology-based approach using computers and mobile devices promises to meet this necessity with high flexibility and accessibility, and minimizes the cost of the intervention in busy health care settings. Thus, based on preliminary studies, the research team has developed and pilot-tested a technology-based information and coaching/support program (with multiple innovative features) for cancer pain management that is tailored to four major racial/ethnic groups (non-Hispanic [NH] White, Hispanic, NH African American, and NH Asian) of breast cancer survivors (TIPAM). The purpose of the proposed randomized intervention study is to test the efficacy of TIPAM in improving cancer pain experience of breast cancer survivors from four major racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. (non-Hispanic [NH] White, Hispanic, NH African American, and NH Asian).