Development and pilot testing of a psychosocial intervention program for young breast cancer survivors

To describe the development, pilot testing, and dissemination of a psychosocial intervention addressing concerns of young breast cancer survivors (YBCS).

Intervention development included needs assessment with community organizations and interviews with YBCS. Based on evidence-based models of treatment, the intervention included tools for managing anxiety, fear of recurrence, tools for decision-making, and coping with sexuality/relationship issues. After pilot testing in a university setting, the program was disseminated to two community clinical settings.

The program has two distinct modules (anxiety management and relationships/sexuality) that were delivered in two sessions; however, due to attrition, an all day workshop evolved. An author constructed questionnaire was used for pre- and post-intervention evaluation. Post-treatment scores showed an average increase of 2.7 points on a 10 point scale for the first module, and a 2.3 point increase for the second module. Qualitative feedback surveys were also collected. The two community sites demonstrated similar gains among their participants.

The intervention satisfies an unmet need for YBCS and is a possible model of integrating psychosocial intervention with oncology care.

This program developed standardized materials which can be disseminated to other organizations and potentially online for implementation within community settings.