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Cancer Communication Research Center
Principal Investigator: James W. Dearing, HMO Cancer Research Network

Website: http://www.crn-ccrc.org/

Identifying and testing optimal communication and coordination processes that facilitate patient-centered cancer care in clinical settings

Established in 1999 as a part of the HMO Research Network, the Cancer Research Network (CRN) - with over 10 million enrollees - was among the first consortia of delivery system-based research networks.

The primary goal of the Center is to use the CRN as a shared laboratory of clinical settings and the organizational resources that support them to identify and test optimal communication and coordination processes that facilitate patient-centered cancer care across the cancer care continuum.

The secondary goal of our Center is to employ proven frameworks and concepts from communication, dissemination, and implementation research to heighten communication effectiveness, external validity, and the diffusion potential of cancer communication interventions in clinical settings.

Research project summaries:

• Effective Communication for Preventing and Responding to Oncology Adverse Events (Kathleen Mazor & Thomas Gallagher, co-Pis): A multi-component study to characterize patients' and providers' experiences with communication about adverse events and errors in cancer care. This study will also investigate the health system factors that promote or inhibit effective communication, develop provider training materials and patient informational materials for improving communication about adverse events and errors in cancer care, disseminate these materials, and evaluate the impact of the materials on patients and providers.



• Testing an Optimal Model of Patient-Centered Cancer Care (Edward Wagner, PI): A study to develop and test an intervention to decrease patient uncertainty and improve psychosocial and communicative outcomes during the period from suspicion of cancer through diagnosis and plan of care. The study will use multiple means for helping patients meet basic information and support needs through the engagement of an entire practice team with emphasis on state-of-the-art care management principles.

For full descriptions: CRN Overview December 2008