Talking to Employers and Medical Staff About Breast Cancer Treatment and Your Job

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Breast Cancer

Treatments: Other: TEAMWork App; Other: Information Booklet

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03572374

18-217

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is learn more about how being treated for breast cancer affects patients' employment. Researchers are testing an early version of a mobile app designed to help breast cancer patients keep their jobs during and after treatment. The app provides advice for patients to use when having conversations about breast cancer with their employers and their doctors. The app is called TEAMWork (Talking to Employers And Medical staff about Work). In this study, the investigators are asking breast cancer patients who are about to receive treatment or who are currently receiving treatment to tell us what aspects of the app work well, so that they can learn how to improve it.

Enrollment: 546 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Patient Usability Testing Inclusion Criteria:

• History of a cancer diagnosis
• At least 18 years of age
• Male or Female
• The ability to give informed consent in English or Spanish
• Able to use and read a smartphone (iPhone or Android)
• Has a smartphone (iPhone or Android)

Community Usability Testing Inclusion Criteria:

• At least 18 years of age
• Male or Female
• The ability to give informed consent in English or Spanish
• Able to use and read a smartphone (iPhone or Android)
• Has a smartphone (iPhone or Android)

Focus Group and Interview Inclusion Criteria:

• Completed chemotherapy treatment for stage I-III breast cancer.
• Age 18 to 64 (inclusive)
• Female
• Paid employment (full time or part time) in the three months prior to diagnosis or at time of consent to MSK protocol #10-071 (PI: Blinder)
• The ability to give informed consent in English or Spanish
• Able to use and read a smartphone (iPhone or Android)
• Has a smartphone (iPhone or Android)

For Cohort 2:

• Participants was covered by Emergency Medicaid at the time of diagnosis and/or at any point during their treatment for breast cancer

RCT Inclusion Criteria:

• Localized invasive breast cancer (not stage 0 or stage IV) per EMR or breast cancer (not stage 0 or stage IV) per self-report for community participants

  • If electronic medical record does not specify stage and patient is undergoing (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy, assume stage is I, II or III

• Planning to undergo or undergoing adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy per EMR or planning to undergo or undergo chemotherapy per self-report for community participants

• Age 18 to 64 (inclusive)

• Female

• Employment statue of (full time or part time) (those who are on disability leave/medical leave, and other unique employment circumstances at the PI's dicretion are eligible)

• Language preference as English or Spanish

• Able to use and read a smartphone or tablet (e.g. iPad, iPhone or Android)

• Has access to a smartphone or tablet (e.g. iPad, iPhone or Android)

Exclusion criteria

RCT Exclusion Criteria:

• Stage 0 breast cancer (DCIS only)
• Stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer
• Recurrence with metastases of breast cancer
• Participants or family members who are participating in MSK IHCD studies related to social determinants of health

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

546 participants in 2 patient groups

TEAMWork App

Experimental group

Description:

The 2-pronged approach of the intervention is operationalized through 2 menus, 1 focused on interactions with the employer and the other with the clinic team. Each menu has a list of features from which participants can choose to learn about a particular topic. A "My notes" button allows participants to take notes directly on the app. These notes will not be available to the research team, such that participants may use the tool without concerns about privacy. The workplace accommodations menu includes sample videos using trained actors to demonstrate how to approach an employer to request accommodations. Additional features include suggestions for accommodations that may be helpful, templates for letters participants can use when requesting accommodations, links to relevant websites, information about legal protections, and contact information for lawyers and firms that provide pro bono assistance.

Treatment:

Other: TEAMWork App

Information Booklet (control)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive a booklet that includes the information in the app that can practicably be converted to paper. These participants will not have access to the multimedia aspects of the intervention, such as the videos, but they will have all of the relevant information in the app described above, including suggestions for accommodations, written templates for letters, links to websites, information about legal protections, and contact information for pro bono legal assistance. The booklet will also contain information about chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, recommendations for management of common symptoms, and advice for communicating with the clinic team. The information booklet will be provided entirely on paper, although participants may independently access websites recommended in the booklet. The booklet content will mirror the app with regard to cultural responsiveness and appropriateness for different job types and characteristics.

Treatment:

Other: Information Booklet