PREPARES: Patients and Relatives affected by Pancreatic cancer: Referral, Education and Support trial (Status: Completed)

People with pancreatic cancer have the worst prognosis of any cancer, with 50% of deaths occurring within five months of diagnosis. Our previous observational research indicates that pancreatic cancer patients and their carers have exceptionally high levels of unmet needs, and are more distressed than other cancer patients. PREPARES was a pilot intervention trial, in which families were offered up to 10 sessions of counselling delivered by a trained nurse via telehealth technology. The intervention was based on a self-efficacy paradigm and involved assessing needs, delivering intervention components appropriate to those needs, and providing feedback to clinicians where the nurse’s assessment – followed by further medical investigation and management. The pilot trial assessed the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Findings from this trial will be used to inform the development of a fully powered trial aimed to investigate the effects of the PREPARES intervention on distress, quality of life, supportive care needs, clinical factors (e.g. pain) and survival.

PREPARES is now completed. You may access the article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejon.2020.101729

For more information, please contact lead PI- Adjunct Associate Professor Vanessa Beesley.