Pathfinders Program Found to Help Women Cope with
Terminal Breast Cancer
Anatomy of Breast
Cancer - Video from Susan G. Komen for the Cure,
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Focused on body, mind and spirit, patients felt
less distress and despair
May 15, 2009 - Pathfinders, a program designed to
care for the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- has been found to
help women with terminal cancer cope and improved their quality of life,
according to a study led by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer
Center.
"The program helped improve distress and despair
during the initial three months and up to six months after diagnosis
among women with metastatic breast cancer and a six month life
expectancy," said Amy Abernethy, M.D., an oncologist at Duke University
Medical Center and lead investigator on the study.
"Even though the women were getting sicker and
experiencing more symptoms related to their cancer, they reported that
they felt less distress and despair as a result of being able to better
cope with the cancer."
Pathfinders focuses on
the seven pillars of personal recovery:
1. hope,
2. balance,
3. inner strengths,
4. self care,
5. support,
6. spirit and
7. life review.
The program provides patient navigation,
counseling, coping skills training, mind and body techniques and
lifestyle advice.
"The goal of the program is to teach patients
coping skills for dealing with their cancer," said Tina Staley, director
of Pathfinders. "To reach this goal, we have created a common language
between patients, nurses, physicians and Pathfinders for communicating
coping skills."
For this pilot study, the researchers enrolled 50
adult breast cancer patients with a prognosis of less than six months
survival. The women met with a Pathfinder, a trained social worker, at
least monthly, plus telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges. The
social workers helped the women identify inner strength, taught them
coping skills and encouraged them to engage in complementary and
alternative medical services.
The researchers will present details of their
findings on a poster at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology
meeting in Orlando, on Sunday, May 31.
"There is a growing body of data that shows cancer
patients have unmet psychosocial needs, and with programs like
Pathfinders we are able to care for the whole person," Abernethy said.
"As a result, we found that this group of women reported a higher
quality of life three months after being diagnosed than was expected."
Additional authors on the study include Tina
Staley, James Herndon II, April Coan, Jane Wheeler, Krista Rowe, Barbara
Horne and H. Kim Lyerly of Duke.
The Duke Cancer Care Research Project has
partnered with Pathfinders to advance an innovative and promising model
of comprehensive psychosocial care for cancer patients.
Click here for more information.
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