Empowering Patients to Achieve Individualized Care for Advanced Breast Cancer

The primary goal of this study is to promote individualized care for patients with metastatic breast cancer by empowering patients to identify their preferences and goals of care and to facilitate shared decision regarding care plans in the breast oncology clinic.

Methods: We will conduct focus groups and structured interviews to develop an individualized goals of care discussion guide (IGCDG). We will then recruit 80 patients with metastatic breast cancer at the time of diagnosis or disease progression, assess their goals and preferences for care, provide this information to the patient’s physician, and evaluate the impact on decision making, concordance of care and preferences, and patient satisfaction.

Analysis: The primary outcome of interest will be feasibility of the IGCDG based on recruitment, attrition, and measurement of distress.  Secondary outcomes will include patient reported satisfaction with the IGCDG and the achievement of individualized care planning as measured by the following validated measures, 1) Medical Decision Making satisfaction scale, 2) The decisional conflict scale, 3) Modified Control Preferences Scale, and 4) The Patient Satisfaction with Cancer Care measure, in addition to study specific questions that will guide further research using the IGCDG.

Deliverables and Impact:  This proposal will yield 2 abstracts and 2 manuscripts reporting the feasibility and impact of the IGCDG.  The tool we develop will be made publically available through the NCCN and Cancer.Net.  This research is intended to yield a pragmatic tool that can empower patients and help translate the vision of individualized care for metastatic breast cancer into reality.