Research Project
10251971
7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The overall goal of the Outreach Core of the MSM/TU/UAB CCC Partnership is to implement and evaluate, Cancer Care Connect, an innovative enhanced care coordination model for cancer survivors that links health system patient navigators (HSPNs) and survivorship care plans (SCPs) with community-based patient navigators (CBPNs) to improve satisfaction with care, satisfaction with navigation services, and quality of life among cancer survivors. The accomplishment of the study's goal will be facilitated by the Partnership's decade-long history of recruiting, training, and engaging lay community health workers/advisors to promote age-appropriate cancer screening, healthy lifestyles, and enrollment in cancer clinical trials. The patient navigation model used by the Partnership has been successful in the context of cancer prevention, and now it will be expanded to cover the entire cancer continuum, from diagnosis through survivorship. To our knowledge, this will be the first study to extend patient care coordination from the health system to the community using community navigation and SCPs. Following a baseline assessment, patients with a HSPN and SCP will be linked to a CBPN, and the impact of the combined health system-based and community-based navigation will be evaluated at multiple time points. We anticipate that cancer survivors receiving the Cancer Care Connect will increase satisfaction with care, increase satisfaction with navigation services, and improved quality of life.
