A research study at UNMC is recruiting 20 women with new breast cancer diagnoses who live in rural areas to participate in an at-home internet support program
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Called CaringGuidance” After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, the program was developed by Robin Lally, Ph.D., a professor at the UNMC College of Nursing affiliated with the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, after more than 15 years of caring for women and talking to them about their thoughts and emotions through the treatment process.
The program has six modules with more than 20 sub-themes that address thoughts and worries while providing support and coping strategies to reduce distress of the daily social and emotional challenges of a new cancer diagnosis. They are: Are My Reactions Normal?; What Does This Diagnosis Mean?; Who am I Now?; What are Strategies to Care for Myself?; and Moving Forward For Family and Friends.
The program contains information most requested by newly diagnosed women plus 27 mental exercises to work through common problems and more than 100 video vignettes from 11 survivors and family members. It also includes advice about how to get the most from appointments, a glossary of cancer-related words to support understanding, how to disclose the cancer diagnosis to other people, receiving and accepting support, dealing with unsupportive people, understanding the complexity of a cancer diagnosis and moving forward.
“Women have said this is like a support group in a box,” Dr. Lally said. “That’s what makes it ideal for rural women. They don’t have to go to an in-person support group, they don’t have to travel anywhere, and they can have the support from women who are in the program sharing their experiences.
The small, three-month pilot study will give rural women the opportunity to use the program and provide feedback. The study will form the basis for a future larger study that will compare one group of women using the program to a group who don’t use it.
She said there are plenty of websites that provide information about breast cancer types and treatment but CaringGuidance is the only program her colleagues know of that was designed with help from breast cancer survivors.