Development of a psychoeducational intervention for people affected by pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any malignancy, placing a substantial burden on patients and families with high unmet informational and supportive care needs. Nevertheless, access to psychosocial and palliative care services for the individuals affected is limited. There is a need for standardized approaches to facilitate adjustment and to improve knowledge about the disease and its anticipated impact. In this intervention-development paper guided by implementation science principles, we report the rationale, methods, and processes employed in developing an interdisciplinary group psychoeducational intervention for people affected by pancreatic cancer. The acceptability and feasibility of implementation will be evaluated as a part of a subsequent feasibility study.

The Schofield and Chambers framework for designing sustainable self-management interventions in cancer care informed the development of the intervention content and format. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research served as an overarching guide of the implementation process, including the development phase and the formative evaluation plan of implementation.

A representative team of stakeholders collaboratively developed and tailored the intervention content and format with attention to the principles of implementation science, including available resourcing. The final intervention prototype was designed as a single group-session led by an interdisciplinary clinical team with expertise in caring for patients with pancreatic cancer and their families and in addressing nutrition guidelines, disease and symptom management, communication with family and health care providers, family impact of cancer, preparing for the future, and palliative and supportive care services.

The present paper describes the development of a group psychoeducational intervention to address the informational and supportive care needs of people affected by pancreatic cancer. Consideration of implementation science during intervention development efforts can optimize uptake and sustainability in the clinical setting. Our approach may be utilized as a framework for the design and implementation of similar initiatives to support people affected by diseases with limited prognoses.