Jessica Goldberg Discusses the Lessons Learned from Creating a Self-Management Intervention for Cancer Patients

Jessica Goldberg, MSN, adult gerontology nurse practitioner, fellow in palliative medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the results of a study in which a cancer self-management intervention was created for patients with breast cancer.

Goldberg says this multiyear study started out with needs assessment interviews with cancer patients who had breast and ovarian cancer to determine their self-management needs. Goldberg and her colleagues created modules based on the feedback from the interviews and other research.

Once the modules were created, a focus group of 6 patients was selected to give feedback before using the modules in a series of other studies, Goldberg says.

Goldberg says the results showed that the self-management needs of the patient differed depending on the stage of their disease. Results showed that stage IV patients used the care options module most frequently while stage I, II, and III patients most frequently used the “managing transition” module.

Goldberg says this shows that patients’ needs differ depending on where they are in the trajectory of their cancer.