By
Benjamin Kim
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA to take part in $3.7 million study that researches mothers with breast cancer
The UA College of Nursing will take part in a $3.7 million study to see how mothers with breast cancer can help their children adjust better to changes to their family routines.
The university received about $700,000 from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the four-year study, said Joan Haase, the study's principal investigator and an associate professor of nursing.
"It is a landmark study," said Jean Gribbon, program coordinator for the research and a doctoral nursing student.
One of the study's main goals is to find an effective way to give mothers the skills to communicate with their children about such a sensitive issue.
"A child is not stupid - they know mom is sick and that something is wrong," Gribbon said. "A lot of times a mother thinks that they are protecting the child, but it actually puts a lot of stress on the child."
"We do know that children have a lot of questions that go unanswered," Haase said. "They experience disenchanted grief, they are unable to express what their concerns are."
The study, which is titled, "Enhancing Connections: Helping the Mother with Breast Cancer to Support Her School-Age Child" will also be conducted at three other locations.
Researchers at the University of Washington, the University of Minnesota, the City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute in Duarte, Calif. and the UA plan to enroll 160 women for the study.
The UA hopes to enroll 40 women locally.
Aside from the usual complications of treatment such as fatigue, many mothers feel depressed because "they feel unable to be there for their children," Haase said.
The study will focus on mothers who have been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in the past eight months and who have children from 8 to 12 years old. Researchers are also focusing on women in committed relationships.
"We don't want to have the variable of dealing with single parenting issues," Haase said. "But we want to get information from the other person as well."
The diagnosed mothers will participate in one of two programs. One program gives participants printed materials and a phone call from a trained patient educator to help mothers use those materials.
The other program is a 10-week process that includes five bi-weekly, in-home visits by a patient educator to teach skills, Haase said. Both programs will be evaluated to see which one is more effective.
"This is very important for moms with breast cancer because it is an area that has not been addressed, and we are beginning to look at doing something for the whole family and not just the patient," Haase said. "Cancer is not just an individual disease, it affects everybody."
Benjamin Kim can be reached at ben.kim@wildcat.arizona.edu.
