Breast Cancer Translational Research

This paper discusses the implementation of evidence-based practice models into clinical interventions or practices for breast cancer patients. The focus is on the prevention of crisis by increasing physical and emotional adjustment, role performance, perceived social support, and overall health status. The paper also highlights the importance of telehealth and telephone-based interventions in providing psychosocial support to cancer patients.

Running head: BREAST CANCER TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
BREAST CANCER TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
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According to the global cancer statistics, the cancer that is most frequently diagnosed
among women is breast cancer. In the developing countries, its prevalence is higher in
comparison to the less developed countries. Adjuvant therapies have been used to addresses
breast cancer, however the patients often experience manifestations that are sue to the
primary disease of the treatment of the disease (Matthews, Grunfeld & Turner, 2017).
Simultaneously they face several symptoms which are psychological in addition to the
physical symptoms. This paper aims to implement such evidence based practise models into
clinical interventions or practices, thereby conduction of translational research.
Randomized clinical trials were conducted in order to examine the factors of
emotional, physical and social adjustments. This was particularly in the women who received
psychoeducation in the form of video and counselling through telephone. Interventions in
terms of psychosocial support can be implemented to provide assistance along with
encouragement to the individuals who are facing physical or emotional disabilities as a result
of breast cancer (Agboola et al., 2015).
The quality of life is an important aspect that needs to be considered before
implementation of the evidence practices in the form of interventions of clinical practise.
Provision of telehealth has emerged as a popular model of supportive care delivery for the
patients suffering from cancer. Telehealth is involved in provision of opportunities to the
patients in terms of long-term monitoring along with health education and coaching (Jones et
al., 2013). The intervention also provides modification of behaviour along with sharing of
health information with the carers who are involved in caregiving. Several studies were
conducted in conjunction to the telephone based interventions which showed that these
interventions involved professional interventionist comprising of the nurses, the
psychologists and the counsellors (Matsuda et al., 2014). Some of these telephonic

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interventions also involved use of an automated voice response that was used along with the
personnel providing life support.
The implementation of the theoretical framework of Stress and Coping Model and the
Crisis Intervention Model helped in the transition of the evidence based model into practise.
According to the given model, cancer is viewed as combination of loss, threat and challenge
(Sherman et al., 2012). In view of this implementation model, the main focus is on the
prevention of crisis by increasing the amount of physical adjustment and emotional
adjustment along with role performance. In addition to this, there is perceived social support
and the overall health status. The telephone counselling intervention is involved in addressed
the particular needs of patients who are experiencing breast cancer. This is done through the
assessment of the phase-specific perceptions and emotions of the patients. Secondly by
clarifying the questions related to the medical treatments, procedures, and its various side
effects. Thirdly by exploring the efficacy of the social supports. Lastly it is done by assessing
the effectiveness of the mechanisms used for coping (Mustafa et al., 2013).
Studies showed that implementation of this evidence based practise into use in the
clinical filed showed that the efficacy of pain education can be increased in using
telemonitoring. A randomised controlled trial showed that the nurse specialists provided the
patients with video-assisted educational material in both arms which was only pain education
and pain education along with telemonitoring. There was a daily telemonitoring carried out
for the first week in the experimental arm. This showed that there was a significant amount of
improvement in the pain as well as in the depression outcomes as compared to the borderline
data.
Another case of implementation of the intervention model into practise was seen from
the study of Pérez et al., (2014), where a sample population of cancer patients were

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randomised into three arms, which consisted of the two intervention arms and a single
passive referral arm. In the case of the active referral arms, the professionals referred the
individuals to a Cancer Helpline actively. In the case of the Active Referral-4, it was seen that
the patients were receiving calls through the helpline within one week of diagnosis and
additionally at 6 weeks, a period of 3 months and also 6 months post diagnosis. While in the
case of the Active Referral-1 arm, the patients were receiving call only once within 1 week of
diagnosis. However in the control arm that is the passive referral, the patients were being
referred to contact the Helpline by taking their own initiative. These telephone helplines were
being developed by various cancer organizations which are customised to provide
information to the needs of the cancer patients along with provision of support, and referral to
supportive service.
Another study showed that in a trial conducted, a sample population of cancer patients
were randomly assigned to an intervention group out of which some were to receive
intervention care while others would receive normal care. Patients who were in the
intervention group received telecare management that was centralised. The care was received
by a nurse-physician specialist team along with an automated home-based symptom
monitoring through the interactive voice recording or online (Jassim et al., 2015). The study
reported that the intervention helped in improved outcomes of pain and depression in cancer
patients who were to receive the intervention care.
According to another study, reports suggested that the integration of evidenced-based
psychosocial interventions in clinical cancer care is of significant importance. A meta-
analysis highlighted that cognitive behavioural therapy was seen to be quite consistent with
the most effective psychosocial intervention that promotes improvements in anxiety,
depression and the quality of life (Jones et al., 2013).

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However from the above studies it was perceived that the individuals who received
telephone counselling showed lower levels of emotional adjustment along with discussion on
personal level. It was related to their cancer experience, in addition to provision of an outlet
for their concerns. This might not allow the opportunity to move health-related concerns to
the background.

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