Purpose: Although sexual health (SH) is a major concern for many patients with breast cancer (BC), only few of them receive adequate information on this topic throughout their whole care pathway. BEROSE is a single-center pilot cross-sectional observational study, which aimed at evaluating communication on SH between women with BC and their health-care providers.Methods: From June 12th to July 31st, 2020, a survey was distributed to patients consulting at Breast Cancer Unit of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center. The primary endpoint was the rate of women reporting to have received information on SH from health professionals throughout active treatment administration or BC follow-up.Results: Of 348 surveys collected, 318 were fully completed and included in the analysis. Sixty-one percent of women were older than 50 years and 65% had a localized BC. The majority (63%) was receiving hormone-therapy (37%) or chemotherapy (26%). Overall, 65% reported that they had not received any information about SH throughout their care, while 69% felt it would have been important to discuss sexual issues. For 31% of women, professionals, preferably oncologists or gynecologists, should have initiated the discussion on SH, during an in-person consultation. Concerning satisfaction on SH, 83% reported being satis ed or very satis ed before BC diagnosis, and only 30% at the time they completed the survey.Conclusion: Most of women undergoing treatment or follow-up for BC feel that they lack of adequate information regarding sexual issues associated to BC. The impact of BC diagnosis and treatment on SH should be discussed with all women from the rst visit and then regularly readdressed.
221 Background: Optimal comprehensive survivorship care, beyond screening of recurrences and new cancers, and including health promotion, management of physical as well as psychosocial needs and chronic conditions is insufficiently delivered. To increase patient (pt) empowerment and maximize the uptake of multidisciplinary strategies serving all survivorship needs, we implemented a proactive survivorship care pathway offered for pts with early BC at the end of their primary treatment phase (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). Methods: The pathway consisted of the following components: 1) receipt of a personalized survivorship care plan (SCP), 2) invitation to attend face-to-face group seminars focused on specific themes and a comprehensive survivorship consultation for multidisciplinary referrals (”the transition day”) 3) access to a mobile application (app) delivering personalized education according to symptoms reported and 4) decision aids for helping physicians to manage prevalent symptoms and side effects related to BC treatment. Administrative data were collected. A pre-specified post-experience survey was sent to all pts four weeks post pathway delivery to inform program implementation with a minimum requirement of 50 responses. BC physicians and members of the multidisciplinary implementation team (MIT) answered a dedicated survey. For the overall pathway and each of its components we descriptively evaluated the following domains: satisfaction (primary outcome), uptake, perceived usefulness, barriers for delivery, and suggestions for improvement. A 70% satisfaction rate would define a positive experience. Results: From October 2021 to April 2022, 241 SCP were delivered, and 98 pts attended the “transition day”. 62 pts replied to the survey, 42 (67%) had received the SCP, 34 (55%) attended the “transition day”, 36 (57%) accessed the app. Only 21 pts (34%) who answered the survey received the full pathway, 81% of whom were very or completely satisfied with it. Perceived usefulness of individual components and for pts that received the full pathway were, respectively: 64% and 90% for the SCP, 91% and 95% for the “transition day”, 72% and 90% for the app. Among 14 BC physicians, agreement regarding the usefulness of the components was: 93% for the SCP, 86% for the decision aids, 93% for the “transition day”, and 86% for the app. The MIT (n = 13) reported high engagement and satisfaction (100%). Main actionable points for improvement included: automated screening and SCP preparation, virtual “transition day”, increase physicians’ awareness. Conclusions: In this pilot phase, pts were satisfied with receiving a proactive survivorship care pathway and the majority reported that the components were useful for supporting their needs. This study informed improvements on program penetration. Evolution towards sustainability phase is ongoing including dissemination to other cancers and centers.
Purpose: Although sexual health (SH) is a major concern for many patients with breast cancer (BC), only few of them receive adequate information on this topic throughout their care. BEROSE is a single-center pilot cross-sectional observational study, which aimed at evaluating communication on SH between women with BC and their health-care providers.Methods: From June 12th to July 31th, 2020, a survey was distributed to patients consulting at Breast Cancer Unit of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center. The primary endpoint was the rate of women reporting to have received information on SH from health professionals throughout active treatment administration or BC follow-up.Results: Of 348 surveys collected, 318 were completely filled and included in the analysis. Sixty-one percent of women were older than 50 years and 65% had a localized BC. The majority (63%) was receiving hormone-therapy (37%) or chemotherapy (26%). Overall, 65% reported that they had not received any information about SH throughout their care, while 69% felt it would have been important to discuss sexual issues. Most of women expected professionals to bring up the topic, preferably oncologists or gynecologists, during face-to-face consultations. Concerning satisfaction on SH, 83% reported of being satisfied or very satisfied before BC diagnosis, and only 30% at the time of our survey. Conclusion: Most of women treated or followed-up for BC feel that they lack of information regarding SH-related issues. The impact of BC diagnosis and treatment on SH should be discussed with all women from the first visit and then regularly readdressed.
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