Implementing Systematic Distress Screening in Breast Cancer

Completed

Conditions studied: Breast Cancer

In brief

Many breast cancer patients experience psychological distress during their cancer care journey. There are effective treatments for breast cancer patients experiencing distress, such as individual or group therapy, health education, and medication. Unfortunately, clinicians may not be aware of the symptoms of distress in their breast cancer patients, and some breast cancer patients who could benefit from referral to behavioral health specialists are overlooked. New guidelines recommend that all cancer patients be regularly screened for distress. However, there are unanswered questions about the impact of distress screening conducted on a large scale. Few studies have evaluated the impact of distress screening on important outcomes in breast cancer patients, such as patient experience and use of health care services, as compared to the usual care offered by the health care organization. In addition, oncology clinicians may be uncertain about the benefits of large-scale distress screening, and pilot screening programs have not been uniformly successful particularly in the community oncology setting. The overarching goals of this study are to assess the effectiveness of implementing a guideline-recommended distress screening program for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients on improving identification and referral to treatment for highly distressed breast cancer patients, to assess patient-reported outcomes, health services utilization, and implementation outcomes of the program. This study will address two main research questions: 1) Evaluate the effectiveness of a guideline-recommended distress screening program for breast cancer patients in improving identification of distressed patients, initiation and completion of referrals to behavioral health, and patient-reported and utilization outcomes as compared to usual care; 2) Identify the barriers, facilitators, and other implementation-related outcomes related to distress screening in the community oncology setting. Please note: This study did not require a DSMB, as it falls under the exception for low-risk behavioral studies.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02941614

Run by

Kaiser Permanente

People needed

1436

Starts

2017-10-02

Expected to finish

2019-11-30

Last updated by the study team

2020-07-07

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Newly diagnosed with initial breast cancer, any stage, any histology type
• Kaiser Permanente member for at least 100 days during study period

You may not qualify if…

• None

Where it is running

• Anaheim Medical Center — Anaheim, California, United States
• Baldwin Park Medical Center — Baldwin Park, California, United States
• South Bay - Harbor City Medical Center — Harbor City, California, United States
• Los Angeles Medical Center — Los Angeles, California, United States
• West Los Angeles Medical Center — Los Angeles, California, United States
• Woodland Hills Medical Center — Woodland Hills, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.