Adapting The Fear Of Recurrence Therapy (FORT) for Parents and Establishing Acceptability and Feasibility

Summary

Clinical levels of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) affect up to 59% of adult cancer survivors. Family caregivers experience equal or greater levels of FCR, which has been linked to lower quality of life and increased distress. FCR can be addressed in cancer survivors with brief interventions. However, none of these interventions have been tested with parents of childhood cancer survivors. This is an urgent gap: the survival rates of childhood cancer have increased more rapidly than for adult cancers, resulting in a growing population of childhood cancer survivors who, along with their families, need support. The goals of this pilot study are to demonstrate 1) that a newly adapted intervention of FORT (Parent-FORT) is feasible (i.e., participant recruitment, attendance and participation) and acceptable (i.e., parent satisfaction of the intervention) for a larger study, and 2) the clinical implications of Parent-FORT on fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and quality of life in parents of childhood cancer survivors. Parents will be randomly assigned to participate in the Parent-FORT intervention immediately or a three-month waitlist control group. They will complete a questionnaire package before and after the intervention, as well as at a three month follow up. This study will help bridge an important gap in bringing evidence-based care to parents who have never been offered help before for their FCR.

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

* Parent (or primary caregiver) caring for a childhood cancer survivor (\<18 years of age) of any type of cancer type, who is at least 1 months from the completion of active treatment and has not had a recurrence of their cancer
* A score of 13 or greater on the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory-Short Form-Parent version (FCRI-SF-P; range 0-36), suggesting clinical levels of FCR
* Access to a computer and internet connection
* Living in Canada

Exclusion Criteria:

* Being the parent of a pediatric cancer survivor who is now 18 years of age or older
* Being the parent of a pediatric cancer survivor who has undergone hematopoietic cell transplantation and has active chronic or acute graft-versus-host disease which has not stabilized for at least 3 months
* Non-English speakers
* Currently participating in another therapist-led psychosocial therapy group
* Parent with unmanaged/undermanaged mental health disorder judged to be clinically contraindicated and/or likely to affect the group work
* To avoid violating the assumption of nonindependence of the data, only one parent/caregiver per child can participate in the study.

Conditions5

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