Effectiveness of Peer Support on Quality of Life in Recently Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients

University of Jyväskylä

Status: Completed

Conditions: Breast Cancer

Treatments: Behavioral: Peer support

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03394742

Effectiveness of peer support

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study examines effectiveness of peer support of breast cancer patients. Half of the participants received peer support via telephone in addition to usual care and another half are give the usual care only.

Full description

Seriously sick people need social support to maintain their quality of life. Social support may be given by peers, who have experienced the same.

In this study voluntary participants with recently diagnosed breast cancer were randomly allocated to intervention (N=130) or control (N=130) group. The intervention group received, in addition to usual care, peer support via telephone 1-5 times according to their own preference. The control group received usual care only. Peer support was given by volunteered breast cancer survivors who were educated for giving peer support.

Enrollment: 260 patients

Sex: Female

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• recently diagnosed primary breast cancer
• no other serious illnesses
• ability to communicate in Finnish or Swedish (official languages in Finland)
• ability to fill in the questionnaires

Exclusion criteria

• some other serious illnesses
• inability to communicate in Finnish or Swedish (official languages in Finland)
• inability to fill in the questionnaires

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

260 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

Peer support group received, in addition to usual care, peer support via telephone 1-5 times according to their own preference. Peer support was started at the time between diagnosis and the beginning of treatments.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Peer support

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group received usual care only. For ethical reasons, participants in the control group were not discouraged from seeking peer support by themselves if they felt a need for it.