Treating fear of cancer recurrence in primary care

Many successfully treated cancer patients suffer from fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), affecting their quality of life and their physical, emotional, cognitive and social functioning. Effective psychological interventions for FCR exist, but are not widely available, as they are usually exclusively offered by specialized psycho-oncology professionals and institutes. Concurrently, the role of primary care in cancer and survivorship care is increasing. Therefore, there could be a role for general practitioners (GP) and mental health workers (MHW) working in primary care in supporting patients with FCR. In the current study the effectiveness of a primary care delivered FCR intervention will be evaluated, using a cluster randomized trial. The primary outcome will be FCR severity; secondary outcomes will be FCR-related distress, healthcare uptake and healthcare costs. Participating primary care practices will be stratified by size and socio-economic status and randomly placed in the intervention or the control arm. In the control arm, practices will provide care as usual. In the intervention arm, practices will offer a cognitive behavioural FCR intervention.

Severity of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) will reduce more with the current intervention than with usual care

baseline, 3 months after baseline, 12 months after baseline

Primary care FCR intervention