Feasibility and Acceptability of Bright IDEAS-Young Adults: A Problem-Solving Skills Training Intervention

Abstract

Background: Young adults with cancer are a vulnerable group with unique emotional, social, and practical needs. There is a lack of evidence-based interventions to address their needs and to foster skills that could increase their capacity to cope. Bright IDEAS is a problem-solving skills training intervention that has demonstrated efficacy in improving people’s problem-solving ability and reducing distress among caregivers of children with cancer. This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of Bright IDEAS adapted for young adults (Bright IDEAS-YA). Methods: Forty young adults recently diagnosed with cancer were enrolled in a single arm feasibility study. Results: Feasibility was demonstrated by the adequate enrollment (67.8%), retention (80.0%), and participants’ adherence to the intervention (average of 5.2 out of 6 sessions completed). Participants reported satisfaction with the intervention. Qualitative feedback identified the systematic approach to problem-solving and interaction with the trainer as strengths of the intervention. Participants demonstrated improvements in problem-solving skills and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Conclusions: In conclusion, the results support the feasibility of the intervention and an adequately powered randomized controlled trial is needed to determine the efficacy of the intervention on psychosocial outcomes.

Social Problem-Solving Skills and Self-Efficacy among Youth in Selangor, Malaysia

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New Frontiers in Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Psycho-Oncology Survivorship Care

“…The challenge to continue to develop cost-efficient, scalable interventions may lead the field to develop new psycho-oncology intervention models that support greater flexibility, such as selecting relevant components of an intervention to align with an individual’s unique set of risk factors. Traditional goals of simply reducing distress at a designated time-point may be replaced by interventions designed to enhance young people’s underlying skills for adaptive cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes, to ensure critical age-appropriate, positive real-world functioning that is generalizable across their cancer journey [ 14 , 15 ]. In recognition that increasingly, distress may develop anywhere along the continuum of survival, establishing eligibility or inclusion criteria based on predefined risk factors (e.g., recently off treatment) may not be easy and designing interventions that instead offer life-long education and skills-based training may be warranted.…”