Funded by Hooters of America, LLC
The purpose of our study is to test psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life (QOL) (psychological, physical, social and spiritual well-being) for Latinas with breast cancer and their informal caregivers who are helping them during their cancer journey. Latinas and their caregivers often experience severe psychological distress during cancer treatment and this distress can negatively affect health and well-being. Participants in our study are assigned to either an 8-week supportive health education intervention or an 8-week telephone interpersonal counseling intervention. Both the health education and the counseling are provided over the telephone, and each person is called separately. Our trained health care workers call the women and their caregivers at times that are convenient for them. Sessions are about 30 minutes on the phone each week for 8 weeks. Using the telephone to deliver this service removes many of the access barriers normally associated with counseling or health education. In addition to participating in the 8 education or counseling sessions, we will gather biomarkers using saliva at each measurement period to determine if the intervention was effective at the physiological level. We ask the women and their caregivers to complete some questionnaires 4 times over the next 6 months to determine if the intervention was helpful to them. All study related materials, assessments and sessions are conducted in English or Spanish, depending on the person’s preference. At the end of our study, we also tell them about any other clinical trials that may be of interest.
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