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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – STANFORD, Calif. — Men and women who have completed intense cancer treatment often find it difficult to return to their former lives and activities. They may struggle with many concerns, stresses, symptoms and physical changes. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and The Cancer Research Center of Hawaii are recruiting participants for a study of an online, highly interactive workshop aimed at improving the lives of cancer survivors.
“Cancer: Thriving and Surviving” is a six-week, Internet-based workshop intended to help cancer survivors deal with their unique problems and concerns. Each workshop will bring together about 25 people and will be facilitated by two trained moderators — at least one of whom is a cancer survivor. The study will assess the workshop’s effectiveness.
Participants will have access to a Web-based learning center and online discussion boards to address such topics as healthy eating, physical activity, stress and fatigue management, communication and emotional strategies, and more. While there is no set meeting time, participants will be asked to log on at their convenience two or three times for a total of about two hours each week over the six-week period. Participants’ privacy will be strictly protected.
The workshop is an offshoot of Stanford’s “Healthier Living with Chronic Conditions Self-Management Program.” The program is based on the concept of self-efficacy, or the degree of confidence that a person has that it’s possible to master a new skill or affect one’s own health. A 2006 study of the self-management program showed that participants were healthier and required fewer health-care interventions than did a control group.
For the new study, the Stanford Patient Education Research Center and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii will recruit a total of 400 adults, all of whom have been diagnosed with cancer during the past five years and who have completed cancer treatment (with the exception of hormonal treatments). Potential participants must live in the United States and have access to a computer with an Internet connection and an e-mail account.
Qualified participants in the Stanford arm of the study will be randomly assigned to participate in a workshop at the time of enrollment, or to receive only the books used in the workshop. All study participants will complete three online questionnaires about their health and health-care utilization and their self-management over a year’s time.
Kate Lorig, PhD, is the principal investigator for the Stanford arm of the study, and Erin Bantum, PhD, is the principal investigator for the University of Hawaii arm.
To register for the study, visit http://cancersurvivors.stanford.edu, or e-mail [email protected]. Registration for residents of Hawaii or the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands can be found at http://hawaiisurvivors.stanford.edu.
The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation’s top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.
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