Grant: Project Grant

Each year, approximately 7,600 adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 15-39 years) are diagnosed with cancer in Canada. Since people are having children later in life now, more AYA cancer patients have not started a family at the time of diagnosis. As a result, fertility is the second biggest concern among AYA cancer patients because previous research has found that radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments can cause infertility. Although fertility counseling before cancer treatment is recommended as a part of standard AYA cancer care, it is unclear how often it is being used. Also, no one has explored how many AYA cancer patients have cancer-related fertility appointments or use fertility services before or after cancer treatment. Thus, this proposal's aim is to understand the impact of cancer and its treatment during adolescence and young adulthood on fertility by using a mixed methods study to explore cancer-related fertility care in Alberta. Specifically, among AYA cancer patients from Alberta that were diagnosed from 2010-2019, our first objective is to assess: -referrals to fertility services; -appointment attendance at a fertility clinic; -fertility procedures (and what kind); and -fertility-related financial costs. For Objective 2, we will use a mail-out to invite AYA cancer survivors to complete an electronic questionnaire that will collect information on fertility and sexual health factors, as well as demographics. This questionnaire will then be used to identify participants for focus groups (Objective 3) that will explore psychological and social factors that influence reproductive experiences and choices, as well as the impact of cancer on family building among survivors and their partners. The results of this study will help us understand how AYA cancer patients' fertility is impacted by cancer, and may lead to clinical or policy recommendations in Alberta and beyond.