PROWESS study v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility study of delivering a culturally adapted group based breast cancer self-management intervention in a community setting, designed to enhance confidence to self-manage following treatment for primary breast cancer and promote peer support, among women from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
IRAS ID
148961
Contact name
Karen Scanlon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Breast Cancer Care
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN14016157
Research summary
Today in the UK 550,000 people are living with breast cancer. Results from interviews with 66 breast cancer survivors from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds showed that overall, compared with White women, Indian, Pakistani, and Black African and Caribbean women reported greater isolation, emotional disturbance and reduced self-confidence during the 12 month period after treatment. We are currently designing a group based self-management programme (PROWESS) to be delivered and piloted in south east London which has high ethnic diversity and deprivation levels. The programme is being designed to be culturally accessible and inclusive and aims to promote breast cancer knowledge, self-efficacy, and emotional and social support. Furthermore, it will be delivered in the community. In addition to recruiting from hospitals, we will also recruit from within the community, for example via local newspapers and volunteers. This study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of our PROWESS programme in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. Breast cancer patients within 12 months of finishing treatment will be randomly allocated 1:1 to the intervention or wait list control arm. Randomisation will be done in groups by white vs non-white ethnicity to ensure a similar distribution of ethnic groups between the different trial arms. Women in the intervention arm will have a choice of two programmes - same content but different times and locations. Women in the control arm will be invited to the same programme following completion of 3 month data collection. The acceptability of this new programme to patients, experts and volunteers delivering it, and the communities they take place in will be tested. In addition, data to inform a full clinical trial will be collected, for example the acceptability of the health and wellbeing questionnaires used to assess the impact of the intervention.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1079
Date of REC Opinion
13 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion