Enhancing cancer navigation for newly diagnosed, treated and post-treatment of people living with breast cancer in interior region of British Columia

Project Summary

Current cancer navigation in British Columbia is across the cancer care continuum including prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship in British Columbia (Pedersen, 2011). Cancer navigation intervention in this research project is used to guide people living with breast cancer through diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment to have a better quality of life. Cancer navigation intervention will consist of direct psychosocial and educational webinars, coordinated telephone support services, and community-based cancer care resources.

Research Aims

1. What are the barriers to, and facilitators of, accessing cancer care services in BC for people with breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment?
2. How effective is cancer navigation in enhancing patient engagement in care and patient-reported outcomes for people living with breast cancer in BC?

Research Goals

1. Develop and evaluate a community-based intervention that will assess patients’ experience with cancer navigation, with a clear intention to contextualize the experiences of equity-deserving groups.
2. Engage and share study results with key stakeholders to create a robust cancer navigation support dedicated to the improvement of cancer navigation services.

Research Methods

This study employs a Randomized Control Trial (RCT), and a mixed methods research approach. An RCT is a single-centre, parallel-group study with stratified block randomization. The purpose of the study is to utilize and evaluate an innovative Cancer Navigation Intervention (CNI) designed to improve the quality of life in the breast cancer journey consists of a tailored and interactive CNI versus a Standard Of Care (SOC) for participants with newly diagnosed breast cancer (intervention group/arm). 

Knowledge Translation

The research team is dedicated to the dissemination of research findings to participants, providers, and policy-makers, and has a strong history of scientific publications. Publications from this research will be made available to the public through the National Library of Medicine PubMed Central website.