Employment-related Education and Support for Cancer Survivors: a Content Analysis of Employment Resources Offered on National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center Websites.

High rates of employment changes and associated concerns among cancer survivors following diagnosis and treatment suggest a need to examine what employment-related educational resources and support are currently being offered to cancer survivors and what gaps exist in those resources. In 2023, we conducted a content analysis of employment resources described on the websites of the NCI-Designated Cancer Centers that provide clinical care (N = 64) through a systematic review procedure using predetermined search terms and a standardized process to examine the availability and accessibility of such resources. Descriptive analyses were conducted to characterize the employment resources identified. In total, 175 employment resources were identified across 49 cancer center websites; 102 (58%) provided patient-facing education/information, 58 (33%) offered a consultation, 14 (8%) offered support groups/classes, and 1 (1%) was classified as "Other." Most (76%) resources were provided internally by the cancer center, and often, more than one discipline was involved, most commonly social work and medicine. These findings are encouraging as they suggest that most (77%) NCI-Designated Cancer Centers recognize employment support as a component of survivorship care. The multidisciplinary nature of the resources identified is supported by moderate evidence that multidisciplinary interventions appear to have the greatest potential to foster a return to work for cancer survivors and align with suggestions made by recent expert groups and guidelines regarding employment support for cancer survivors. Ongoing work is needed to assess the utilization, impact, and equity of available employment resources to optimize work outcomes among cancer survivors.

Enhancing Efficiency and Reach Using Facebook to Recruit Breast Cancer Survivors for a Telephone-Based Supportive Care Randomized Trial During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: Evidence supporting social media-based recruitment of cancer survivors is limited. This paper describes how we used Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic to augment our recruitment of breast cancer survivors for our two-site telephone-based randomized clinical trial (RCT) at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. METHODS: Originally a two-site RCT of a telephone-delivered breast cancer survivorship intervention, we extended our clinic-based recruitment to Facebook. Participant characteristics, geographic reach, and baseline outcomes were compared across recruitment sources (ie, two clinics and Facebook) using descriptive statistics and effect sizes. RESULTS: Enrollment rates (20%-29%) were comparable across recruitment sources. The 21-month Facebook marketing campaign accounted for 59% (n = 179/303) of our total sample and had the greatest geographic reach, recruiting women from 24 states. The Facebook campaign reached a total of 51,787 unique individuals and cost $88.44 in US dollars (USD) per enrolled participant. Clinic samples had a greater proportion of women who were widowed (8% v 1%; P = .03) and Facebook had a higher proportion of women with a household income over $40,000 USD (83% v 71%; P = .02). There were no statistically significant differences between Facebook and the two clinics on baseline survey scores. CONCLUSION: Augmenting traditional recruitment with Facebook increased our RCT's geographic and sociodemographic reach and supported meeting recruitment goals in a timely way. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer survivorship researchers should consider using social media as a recruitment strategy while weighing the advantages and potential biases introduced through such strategies.

Fear of fatness and desire for thinness as distinct experiences: A qualitative exploration.

OBJECTIVE: The pursuit of thinness and fear of gaining weight have been found to play an important role in eating disorder symptomatology. While these dimensions have typically been considered conjointly, emerging evidence suggests they may be distinct dimensions. The aim of this study was to explore the subjective experiences of fear of fatness and drive for thinness in young women with body image concerns. METHOD: Young women endorsing weight concerns (N = 29, mean age = 20.86, SD = 2.70 years) were interviewed and asked to describe an experience of fear of fat and drive for thinness, respectively. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis was conducted and identified four themes: (1) precipitating events; (2) physiological, emotional, cognitive, and proprioceptive experiences; (3) coping strategies; and (4) sociocultural influences. While similarities emerged, the experiences of fear of fatness, and of drive for thinness also evidenced clear differences situating the former in the context of fear-based avoidance patterns, and the latter in approach-based reward models. DISCUSSION: These findings provide additional support for the usefulness of considering fear of fat and drive for thinness as distinct constructs. Further research examining the contributions of each of these constructs to eating pathology is warranted.