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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this Phase I STTR project is to establish the technical merit and feasibility of producing a web-based multimedia intervention program for adolescents and young adults with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), an inherited colorectal cancer syndrome. Our long-term goal is to develop and evaluate an intervention that will provide information and support to facilitate young persons' self- management and coping with the unique medical and psychological demands of FAP. This project extends our ongoing research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) regarding the psychosocial impact of FAP on adolescents and young adults, and their families. In addition, it builds on preliminary descriptive work that we have conducted in this area, which has found that young persons with FAP have knowledge deficits regarding important aspects of this condition, and also may benefit from guidance on how to cope with and manage this condition. The long-term goal of our proposed intervention is to address these and other needs of this population. As a first step, we propose to develop and test the feasibility and technical merit of a prototype Web-based intervention, and have described the steps for doing so in the following section. Research Design and Methods. In this Phase I project, we will first develop and evaluate content for the intervention, including informational text, self-help activities, brief video scripts and descriptions of illustrations and animations. Next, we will develop and evaluate a Web site that includes prototypes for four components of the intervention, incorporating content, graphics, and animation. The four components to be developed for this Phase I project include: 1) What is FAP? 2) Self-management of FAP 3) Emotional support resources; and, ) Surgical intervention. Finally, we will recruit 35 adolescents and young adults with FAP from MDACC's Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Registry to evaluate the technical merit and feasibility of the prototype intervention. In addition, we will seek review and input from members of an expert consultant panel throughout the course of the project. We will consider our Phase I project to be successful if we demonstrate that the prototype is acceptable to the target audience and relevant to their concerns, easy to understand, and easy to navigate.