Grant: Catalyst Grant: Patient-Oriented Research

Objective: There is increasing documentation that cancer survivors experience gaps in care when they complete cancer treatment: Similarly, gynecological cancer (GC) survivors at our cancer centre - the Cancer Centre of Southeast Ontario - express a desire for improved support as they complete cancer treatment and transition into a period of cancer surveillance. Given that available guidelines may not provide suitable guidance about how to best care for this group, the objective of this project is to develop a framework that can be used to facilitate preparedness among GC survivors and their caregivers (e.g., partner, friend) who live in small urban and rural communities as they transition out of cancer treatment to receive cancer surveillance and primary care. Methods: A partnership of patients, clinicians, administrator and researchers, used a structure for planning and implementing evidence-informed healthcare interventions to design this project. Phase 1 uses information from our literature reviews to draft a framework to support preparedness for this end of treatment transition. In Phase 2, we will establish a steering committee to provide guidance about study decisions. In Phase 3, the draft framework will be shared with GC survivors and caregivers via focus groups, and their feedback will be used to make revisions for a final framework. In Phase 4, findings from Phases 1-3 will be shared with GC survivors, their caregivers, and clinicians. Outcome: The output of this study will be the development of a framework to support preparedness of GC survivors and their caregivers as they complete cancer treatment. In subsequent research, this framework will be shared with stakeholders (e.g., cancer and primary care clinicians, policymakers) to explore barriers and facilitators to implement the framework, which will inform the planning of a pilot intervention study.