Objectives: There is a plethora of evidence for the effectiveness of specific interventions in breast cancer care (Olsson Möller et al., 2019). Nevertheless, these studies fail to address that patients experience heterogenous needs. The aim of this study was to evaluate a screening-based individualized intervention following breast cancer treatment.
Sample and setting: ReScreen is a complex nurse-led intervention study designed as an RCT (Olsson Möller et al., 2020). Inclusion was conducted between 2019 and 2022 in southern Sweden. Patients were screened for distress on the Distress Thermometer. Women with high distress were randomized into the Intervention Group (n=165) or the Control Group (n=165), whereas women with distress <5 formed an Observation Group (n=303). Planned accrual target included 266 patients in the Intervention and Control group.
Procedures: Patients in the Intervention Group received an individualized rehabilitation plan based on the evidence-based decision support tool led by a research nurse. Primary outcome was distress, and secondary outcomes were physical activity, health-related quality of life, breast cancer symptoms, and resilience. Outcomes were evaluated at diagnosis, 2 weeks, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-model regression.
Results: Results suggest no intervention effect on distress (p = .18, 95% CIs = -1.03; 0.19). There was an effect on physical activity at 6 (p = .01, 95% CIs = -0.60; -0.10) and 12 months (p = .005, 95% CIs = -0.61; 0.11), and fatigue at 12 months (p = .04., 95% CIs = 0.14; 10.58). Exploratory analysis revealed stronger intervention effects in patients with higher initial distress.
Conclusions and clinical implications: ReScreen was not effective for decreasing distress but showed promise in increasing physical activity and decreasing fatigue, highlighting the importance of nurse-led individualized care. More knowledge is needed on how to deliver person-centered comprehensive rehabilitation that targets patients' complex needs.