Please click the links below for a full description of the workshop.

Thursday, 28 February 2008

NEW! Workshop: Complex Communication Challenges in Oncology

Workshop One: Building and Developing a Psychosocial Oncology Service

Workshop Two: Persistence Pays Off: Funding Opportunities for
Psychosocial Oncology Research

Workshop Three: Couple-Focused Interventions for Sexual Rehabilitation

Workshop Four: Interventions to Promote Spirituality-Based Coping for Cancer Patients: Culturally Competent Approaches for a Multi-Religious Society

Workshop Five: Cancer Navigator: How to Build a Successful Program

Workshop Six: Treatment Fidelity in Psycho Behavioral Cancer Interventions

Workshop Seven: Parenting with Cancer: Guiding Families through the Illness Continuum

Workshop Eight: Behavioral Randomized Clinical Trials: Recruitment, Design, Analytic Methods and Cultural Adaptations

Sunday, 2 March 2008

Workshop Nine: Guide to Online Communication with Clients in a Clinical Context

Workshop Eleven: Promoting Male and Female Partnerships to Face Cancer: Gender-based Family Caregiver Interventions

Workshop Twelve: Senior Peer Counseling to Enhance Psychosocial Services for Cancer Survivors: Volunteer Training and Program Implementation

Workshop Descriptions

NEW! Workshop: Complex Communication Challenges in Oncology - Presented by Lidia Schapira, Massachusetts General Hospital, Joseph Weiner MD, PhD, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Meghan Cole MA, Actress

Target Audience: Medical, surgical, radiation, and gynecologic oncologists; psychosocial clinicians working with adults with cancer

The goals of this workshop are to (a) strengthen the patient-clinician relationship by deepening clinicians’ understanding of patients’ experiences of illness and coping mechanisms and (b) refine diagnostic and communication skills. Participants will learn to support patients and their families during the entire disease trajectory and expand their repertoire of communication skills in order to improve diagnostic acumen, assist patients and families and improve clinical effectiveness. The session will include interactive demonstration exercises with an actor to explore various scenarios and strategies to handle difficult relationships.

Workshop One: Building and Developing a Psychosocial Oncology Service - Presented by Matthew Loscalzo MSW, City of Hope, Barry Bultz PhD, Tom Baker Cancer Centre

Target audience: Psychologists, Social Workers, Psychiatrists, Nurses, Administrators, Program Leaders

Despite high prevalence rates of emotional distress in cancer patients, funding for psychosocial programs is limited. One of the greatest barriers to growth and creation of programs is the lack of a cohesive roadmap to program development. The typical business plan model (demonstrating cost-benefit) does not work in a cancer center or medical system. The focus of this workshop is to learn how to align and organize the best arguments, tailored to particular settings. This workshop will critically review a number of established programs in Canada and the United States by examining organizational structure, mission and goals. In this highly interactive workshop, specific strategies will be discussed and evaluated to help develop service models applicable in participants' programs.

Workshop Two: Persistence Pays Off: Funding Opportunities for Psychosocial Oncology Research - Presented by Diana Jeffery PhD, National Cancer Institute, Lee Mann PhD, JD, National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review, Ronit Elk PhD, American Cancer Society, Brandy Gazo, Lance Armstrong Foundation

Target audience: Investigators interested in pursuing research funding in the area of psychosocial oncology, and who have limited experience with the grant application and review process; Senior investigators who are interested in teaching their own students or colleagues about funding from NIH, ACS, and LAF may find this session particularly useful

This training is designed to stimulate interest and proficiency in submitting grant applications to the National Cancer Institute, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. At the completion of the workshop, participants should have an understanding of the major components of grant applications, and familiarity with the funding goals and the review processes at these federal and private funding organizations.

Workshop Nine: Guide to Online Communication with Clients in a Clinical Context - Presented by Richard Hara PhD, LCSW, Sara Wicks LMSW,
Rachel Odo LCSW, CancerCare

Target audience: Psychosocial oncology professionals who use email or other online modes as a primary or adjunct means of counseling patients or family members, and/or communicating clinical information

Internet technology provides the clinician with the logical extension of telephone and videoconferencing, which have long been used for creating, managing and sustaining the counseling relationship. E-mail is not intended to be a conduit for counseling, but has become ubiquitous, feeding expectations that the clinician can/will communicate using this medium. However, clinicians cannot use e-mail casually; the impact of responding to a patient’s e-mail must be anticipated and understood. The clinician may not intend their communication to be integrated as a counseling intervention, but patients and families can interpret written responses as powerful messages, both in terms of what is written and what is not. And beyond just e-mail, online communication as a whole brings with it implications of its own for setting and maintaining a therapeutic frame with patients and their families. In this workshop, experiential exercises enabling participants to understand, develop and/or re-develop their written therapeutic voice will be used, interspersed with didactic lecture and illustrative casework examples.

Workshop Ten: Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Medical Phobias in Cancer Care - Presented by Joseph Greer PhD, Elyse R Park PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Target audience: Mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers

Cancer is associated with increased rates of phobias, which may manifest as excessive worry and avoidance of screening, imaging procedures, and medical anticancer treatments. Not only do these phobias result in significant distress for patients, but they may also interfere with the delivery of effective cancer care. While the symptoms of these psychological difficulties may be present prior to the diagnosis of a major medical illness, such as cancer, they often become more clinically relevant in the context of oncology treatment. This workshop will review scholarly literature pertaining to the assessment and behavioral treatment of medical phobias related to cancer care. Using case examples, the presenters will teach skills for clinical conceptualization, including how to prioritize and balance the varied medical and psychological needs of patients. In addition, clinical skill development will include a review of cognitive-behavioral interventions for specific phobias, including exposure therapy techniques. Finally, participants will have an opportunity to discuss the applications of this treatment in various oncology settings.

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Workshop Eleven: Promoting Male and Female Partnerships to Face Cancer: Gender-based Family Caregiver Interventions - Presented by Youngmee Kim PhD, American Cancer Society, Karen Clark, Matthew Loscalzo MSW, City of Hope, Barbara Given PhD RN, Michigan State University

Target audience: Psychologists, Physicians, Social Workers, Nurses,
Psychosocial Oncologists, Caregivers, Family Therapists

Literature will be reviewed to inform the participants about the current knowledge and challenges in developing gender-based programs. Two interventions will be presented, one targeting underserved male caregivers who assist female relatives with cancer using a male-tailored problem-solving training model. The other targets both male cancer patients and their female caregivers, providing psychoeducational interventions to caregivers to become effectively involved in symptom management of the patient. Participants will learn the effective factors in reducing patient symptom severity and how to deliver the practical symptom management strategies. Presentations will provide conceptual models, practical components for a successful program, and effective strategies to manage common problems and concerns in intervention delivery.

Workshop Twelve: Senior Peer Counseling to Enhance Psychosocial Services for Cancer Survivors: Volunteer Training and Program Implementation - Presented by Rebecca Crane-Okada PhD RN AOCN, Sheila K Segal MFT, Evelyn Freeman PhD, Center for Healthy Aging

Target audience: Health care professionals, advocates and volunteers interested in learning a new model for delivery of psychosocial support to cancer survivors, as well as techniques for improving psychosocial support communications

The traditional approach to supporting people through their cancer diagnosis and treatment most commonly includes instrumental support given through verbal and written information by professionals about treatment, prevention and management of side effects, and medical monitoring. The provision of expressive support, as in supportive counseling by professionals or cancer survivors, can vary widely across settings, and is often subsumed within the context of information giving or general care. However, many cancer survivors will experience distress and would benefit from some form of supportive counseling focused on distress management. This interactive workshop will introduce senior peer counseling as a new model for volunteer support of cancer survivors through supportive counseling by professionally trained volunteers under close supervision of mental health and oncology professionals. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the core training of peer counselors, supplemental cancer-specific training for a pilot project, and have a critical discussion about possible application in their own settings, including integration with the oncology health care team. Particular attention will be given to a discussion of basic principles of effective training, recruitment, retention, the purpose, structure, and value of ongoing supervision of volunteers, and challenges of program evaluation. Time will be given throughout the workshop to allow participants to observe and practice peer counseling through role plays and interaction with a volunteer peer counselor and cancer survivor, who will talk about this experience from their individual and shared experiences. Attention will also be given to exploring issues of delivery in rural or community settings where an infrastructure of interdisciplinary health care team support may not be readily available.

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