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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Breast Cancer
• Interventions: Behavioral: Peer support

• Registration Number: NCT03394742
• Lead Sponsor: University of Jyvaskyla

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2014-05-01
• Primary Completion: 2015-06-30
• Study Completion: 2016-10-30
• Study First Submitted: 2017-12-20
• Status Verified: 2018-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2018-01-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2018-01-03
• Study First Posted: 2018-01-09
• Last Update Posted: 2018-01-09

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 260

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention group	Peer support	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.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
A change of health-related quality of life (HRQoL).	From baseline to 3, 6 and 12 months later.	HRQoL was assessed with a disease-specific instrument EORTC QLQ-30 and its breast cancer specific module BR23.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Satisfaction for life	Baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months later.	Satisfaction for life was assessed with a questionnaire created for this study.
The use of health care services	Baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months later.	The use of health care services was assessed with a questionnaire create for this study.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Helsinki University Hospital; 🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland