Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common type of cancer diagnosed in Canadian men and the third most common type of cancer in Canadian women. Due to improved treatment options, the mortality rate from CRC continues to decline for both men and women. Despite increased survivorship, treatments can cause persistent and severe long-term symptoms, such as fatigue, bowel and urinary dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, and emotional distress, which can reduce quality of life (QOL). Unfortunately, there is little to no information about symptom problems and how long-term CRC survivors manage their side effects. This can negatively affect survivorship care planning. Survivorship care plans are considered an important element of cancer patient care, and typically include treatment summaries and a follow-up care plan. To shed more light on these issues, Dr. Tae Hart is proposing a knowledge dissemination workshop to promote the information she has collected on the long-term impact of cancer treatments on CRC survivors 10-years post-diagnosis. Dr. Hart's knowledge dissemination grant has two main aims. The first aim is to invite key stakeholders (e.g., survivors of CRC, CRC patient advocacy organizations, CRC cancer care providers, and family practice healthcare providers) to an interactive workshop to critically discuss the research findings from Dr. Hart's research, and how best to convey these results to the public. The second aim is to discuss how these research findings can be applied to CRC survivorship care planning. Methods to enhance patient-centered care and materials that inform CRC survivors and healthcare providers of long-term treatment effects will be developed. It is also expected that by collaborating with family healthcare providers at the workshop, survivorship care planning will be enhanced, which has the potential to improve healthcare services, patient QOL, and reduce the burden or cancer.