Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

Fear of Recurrence: the role of the clinician in addressing the elephant in the room (#10)

Jia (Jenny) Liu 1
  1. St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, Darlinghurst, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) affects 50-70% of cancer survivors with 30% reporting an unmet need for help with managing FCR. Patients indicate desire to discuss FCR with clinicians, however clinicians indicate discomfort with managing FCR. While a plethora of psychologist-lead and nurse-lead interventions for FCR exist, there are no validated clinician-lead interventions. Our team developed a novel clinician-driven education intervention to help patients manage FCR (the Clinician Intervention to Reduce Fear of Recurrence (CIFeR) intervention). In earlier work, we demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of CIFeR in reducing FCR in breast cancer patients. The barriers and facilitators to implementing this low-cost brief intervention within routine oncology practice in Australia is currently being explored in an ongoing multicentre implementation trial. The role of clinicians in addressing FCR, and integration of FCR screening and stepped care interventions into routine clinical practice will be explored. Additional work relating to interventions to address fear of progression and scanxiety will also be reviewed.