Study of Survivorship Care Plans and Outcomes in Underserved Breast Cancer Survivors

Improvements in early detection and successful treatment of breast cancer have lead to a steady rise in the number of breast cancer (BC) survivors. With so many individuals living for extended periods after diagnosis, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends the implementation of treatment summaries and survivorship care plans (TSSPs) as a mechanism to improve ongoing clinical and coordination of care, and to address the immediate post-treatment and long-term effects of cancer treatment, including the ongoing psychosocial burden of a cancer diagnosis. The need for TSSPs has also been strongly advocated by the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Quality Oncology Practice Initiative and TSSPs have been included in the recently introduced Comprehensive Cancer Improvement Act (H.R. 1844). This will be one of the first randomized controlled trials to test the efficacy of TSSPs. The investigators will recruit 500 low income, medically underserved women from two county public hospitals, LAC+USC Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 10-24 months after breast cancer diagnosis for participation in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test the efficacy of TSSPs. The investigators will randomize these women into one of two groups: 1) a control condition of usual medical care and 2) an experimental condition of the control condition + a tailored TSSP + 1 face-to-face nurse counseling session, with all cancer specialists and primary care physicians of record also receiving the TSSP and a cover letter suggesting how they can be clinically utilized. The investigators specific aims are to assess and compare between experimental and control groups the following primary outcomes at one year post-intervention: 1) discussion and implementation of recommended breast cancer survivorship care, including surveillance and the evaluation and management of BC treatment-related symptoms, 2) patient satisfaction with survivorship communication and care, 3) pertinent a