Grant: CIHR Fellowship - Priority Announcement: Patient Oriented Research - General

Advances in technology and medicine have significantly improved treatments for childhood cancer. Over 83% of Canadian children and adolescents with cancer will become long-term survivors. However, these survivors face lifelong mental and physical health challenges. About 1 in 3 young survivors experiences significant and persistent fear that their cancer will return or that they will develop a new cancer, known as fear of cancer recurrence ("FCR"). FCR may be especially impairing for adolescents and early young adults (ages 13-25, "AeYAs"), who are beginning to manage their own healthcare and transition to adulthood, making them particularly vulnerable to anxiety about their health. Currently, there is no intervention to help AeYAs manage FCR, which has serious implications for quality of life and the broader healthcare system. Left unaddressed, FCR can lead to increased healthcare visits, anxiety, depression, and difficulty moving forward with life plans, such as pursuing education, careers, romantic partnerships, and starting families. This project aims to bridge this gap by adapting an existing and effective therapy for survivors of adult cancers, called Fear of Recurrence Therapy (FORT), to specifically meet the needs of AeYA survivors. The adapted therapy, called FORT-AeYA, will be delivered online to ensure accessibility across Canada. The project will include two phases: 1) we will work with young survivors, psychologists, and research experts to modify the therapy; 2) we will test FORT-AeYA with a small group of AeYA survivors to ensure it is practical, easy to use, and beneficial. This study has the potential to significantly improve the mental health of young cancer survivors. If the adapted therapy is successful, we will test it in a larger study and ultimately aim to implement FORT-AeYA in cancer centres across Canada. This could also help reduce healthcare costs by decreasing unnecessary medical visits and empowering survivors of childhood cancer.