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Grant #: P30CA42014-S1
PI Name: Prescott, Stephen
Project Leader: Beck, Susan
Title: Experiences of Rural and Urban Elderly Cancer Survivors
Underserved populations such as rural and elderly cancer survivors may have insufficient access to information, resources, and social support following cancer treatment. This time period is often marked by a sudden loss of contact with the intense support services available during treatment to meet physical and psychosocial needs. Our previous research has focused on the patient experience during treatment and documented unrelieved symptoms in elderly patients during chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This descriptive, comparative, repeated measures study will compare elderly cancer survivors in rural and urban settings at one and three months following completion of cancer treatment. Of patients diagnosed at HCI over a five-year period, 40% are elderly and 41% live in rural areas. The aims of this study are : 1) to document the symptom experience and quality of life in elderly cancer survivors; 2) to describe the use of family support, health care, and community resources by elderly cancer survivors; 3) to identify barriers to accessing needed resources; and 4) to assess the unmet needs for support of elderly cancer survivors and 5) to compare urban and rural survivors. A total of 60 cancer patients age 65 or over who have completed a definitive course of chemotherapy or radiation therapy will be enrolled in the final sample. There will be 30 rural and 30 urban subjects. Each participant will be mailed a packet of instruments to measure their symptom experience (checklist, pain, fatigue, sleep quality and quantity, and depression), social support, functional status, and health-related quality of life on month after completing treatment. Instruments with established reliability and validity will be used. The cancer survivor will return the tools by mail and the Project Director will conduct a follow-up phone interview. Interviews will allow for in-depth and rich qualitative data about the nature, access to, and effectiveness of support services for elderly cancer survivors in urban and rural communities. These interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. This entire process will be repeated 2 months later. Summary statistics will be used to derive the symptom experience, identify symptom clusters, and describe social support, functional status and quality of life. T-tests or chi squared analyses will be used to compare urban and rural groups. Transcribed qualitative data will be organized using N-Vivo software and codes and themes will be summarized. We will compare both quantitative and qualitative data from each time point and for rural vs. urban survivors. This pilot project will provide a foundation regarding the needs of this underserved population and provide data to plan future external grant applications to test interventions to improve the care of rural elderly cancer survivors. We have collaborated with community organizations in proposal laying the groundwork for this proposal. They are eager to help disseminate the findings.
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