Through the URMP program, I worked with Dr. Teresa Thomas in researching self-advocacy among patients with cancer. Dr. Thomas developed a model and measure of how patients advocate for their needs and priorities within the context of their cancer experience. This tool, called the Female Self-Advocacy in Cancer Survivorship Scale, has shown that women with cancer who are strong self-advocates have lower symptom burden and less use of emergent healthcare services compared to women who lack self-advocacy skills. While the first study was focused solely on women with cancer, we have now ventured into men with cancer and how they differ.
I am currently tasked with performing healthcare utilization chart reviews on patients with advanced cancer. This includes looking through each patients’ electronic medical record and tracking details about their health history, treatments, appointments, and health status. I also lead one-on-one interviews with women in the study, where I assess each patient’s quality of life and their progress in the study. Most recently, I began analyzing qualitative interviews that were conducted with men who have cancer. This male portion of the study is a newer development in which Dr. Thomas and I are trying to compare the differences between how men and women with cancer self-advocate. I am currently involved in conducting the literature review and writing the paper, which will hopefully be published by the end of the year.