Overseeing medication-taking is a critical aspect of dementia caregiving. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a tailored, problem-solving intervention designed to maximize medication management practices among caregivers of persons with memory loss. Eighty-three community-dwelling dyads (patient + informal caregiver) with a baseline average of 3 medication deficiencies participated. Home- and telephone-based sessions were delivered by nurse or social worker interventionists and addressed basic aspects of managing medications, plus tailored problem solving for specific challenges. The outcome of medication management practices was assessed using the Medication Management Instrument for Deficiencies in the Elderly (MedMaIDE) and an investigator-developed Medication Deficiency Checklist (MDC). Linear mixed modeling showed both the intervention and usual care groups had decreases in medication management problems as measured by the MedMaIDE (F=6.91, p<.01) and MDC (F=9.72, p<.01) at 2 months post-intervention. The phenomenon of reduced medication deficiencies in both groups suggests that when nurses or social workers merely raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence, there may be benefit.

Crowdsourcing is “the practice of obtaining participants, services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, especially via the Internet.” (Ranard et al. J. Gen. Intern. Med. 29:187, 2014) Although crowdsourcing has been adopted in healthcare research and its potential for analyzing large datasets and obtaining rapid feedback has recently been recognized, no systematic reviews of crowdsourcing in cancer research have been conducted. Therefore, we sought to identify applications of and explore potential uses for crowdsourcing in cancer research. We conducted a systematic review of articles published between January 2005 and June 2016 on crowdsourcing in cancer research, using PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, PsychINFO, and Embase. Data from the 12 identified articles were summarized but not combined statistically. The studies addressed a range of cancers (e.g., breast, skin, gynecologic, colorectal, prostate). Eleven studies collected data on the Internet using web‐based platforms; one recruited participants in a shopping mall using paper‐and‐pen data collection. Four studies used Amazon Mechanical Turk for recruiting and/or data collection. Study objectives comprised categorizing biopsy images (n = 6), assessing cancer knowledge (n = 3), refining a decision support system (n = 1), standardizing survivorship care‐planning (n = 1), and designing a clinical trial (n = 1). Although one study demonstrated that “the wisdom of the crowd” (NCI Budget Fact Book, 2017) could not replace trained experts, five studies suggest that distributed human intelligence could approximate or support the work of trained experts. Despite limitations, crowdsourcing has the potential to improve the quality and speed of research while reducing costs. Longitudinal studies should confirm and refine these findings.

No abstract

Background Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms among women with recurrent ovarian cancer, yet it remains extremely difficult to manage. Symptom management typically requires patients to set goals and strategies to manage their CRF, but little is known about how to create individualized CRF symptom management goals and strategies. Objective To describe cancer patients’ goals and strategies for managing cancer-related fatigue along with their process of individualizing both. Methods This study is a qualitative analysis with supportive quantitative description of a web-based symptom management RCT, the WRITE Symptom Study. Researchers conducted a content analysis on N=47 participants’ CRF symptom care-plans to identify common themes in participants’ goals, categorize strategies, and describe the individualization process. Results Four general themes were identified among participants’ CRF goals: 1) Enjoying time with friends and family, 2) Doing the things I enjoy, 3) Having energy to be physically active, and 4) Keeping up with what I need to do. CRF strategies were categorized into 13 groups including conserving energy, increasing activity, and talking with healthcare providers. A multistep individualization process resulted in personally-meaningful strategies. Conclusions The process by which participants individualized their CRF strategies consisted of identifying, confirming, testing, and evaluating different CRF strategies and resulted in refined, specific and individualized strategies intended to eventually ensure participants achieve their goal. Implications for Practice Clinicians can assist patients in individualizing their CRF goals and strategies. Individualization of CRF goals and strategies assists patients in visualizing how improving CRF will impact their life.

No abstract