Smart Adult Living After Childhood Cancer (SmartALACC) Online Care Plans: Feasibility and Patient Satisfaction

Study Summary

Smart Adult Living After Childhood Cancer (SmartALACC) Online Care Plans: Feasibility and Patient Satisfaction is a pilot project designed to test the feasibility and acceptability of use of an online care plan generator for adult survivors of pediatric cancers. Because of improvements in cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment, there are an estimated 13 million cancer survivors living in the U.S. today, with projected growth to 18 million by 2020 (De Moor). These survivors include survivors of leukemia and lymphoma, as well as solid tumors including breast, colon, testicular and prostate cancers. It also include a subset of patients who are survivors of pediatric cancers, as over 80% of children diagnosed with cancer today are cured. In fact, it is estimated that 1 in every 600 young adults between the ages of 20-35 is a cancer survivor (Dreyer, Hewitt, Greenlee). Cancer patients as a whole, despite improved cure rates, have been shown to receive inadequate medical care as survivors. Comprehensive survivorship care should include routine age appropriate medical care as well as information about prior diagnosis and treatment, and screening for recurrence of their primary malignancy as well as secondary malignancies, and screening for late effects of cancer treatment (Earle, Craig). Adult survivors of pediatric cancer, exposed to life-saving but toxic treatments during times of growth and development, are particularly prone to late effects but also have been shown to have inadequate monitoring and follow up. This is a concern as late effects of treatment are sometimes silent for years or decades after completion of cancer therapy and that adult survivors of childhood cancer, years from their diagnosis and treatment, have been shown to have alarming rates of life threatening chronic health conditions compared to their peers (Oeffinger). Thus, these late effects may emerge during adulthood when patients have moved on from the care of their primary oncologist. Compl

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