title: Monitoring of health-related quality of life and symptoms in prostate cancer survivors: a randomized trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Routine symptom and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) assessments can engage patients, give provider feedback, and improve doctor/patient communication.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We compared the impact of a technology-assisted symptom monitoring system versus usual care on HRQOL and doctor/patient communication in early-stage prostate cancer (PCa) survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Men (N = 94) were on average 62-years old, mostly African American (AA; 61.7%), and 10-19 months post-treatment. They were randomized to symptom monitoring plus feedback (SM + F; n = 49) or usual care (UC; n = 45). SM+F participants completed a 12-item telephoneassisted monitoring intervention. All participants completed a baseline and 2 follow-up interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the SM+F participants, perceptions of the monitoring system were positive: 97.1% endorsed it as easy/very easy to use and 85% felt all patients could benefit from it. At baseline, men reported favorable general and cancer-specific HRQOL and doctor/patient communication, but poorer urinary and sexual function. Although there was no overall impact of the intervention, post hoc exploratory analyses indicated that among AA men, those who received SM+F improved relative to UC on doctor/patient communication (P < .05), general HRQOL (P < .06), and sexual function (P < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Variability in survivor follow-up care, limited access to eligible participants, and minimal physician training in the use of reports likely decreased physician investment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, PCa survivors were receptive to this monitoring system. Exploratory analyses suggest that this technology-assisted monitoring system may be of particular benefit to African American men. Additional studies with larger samples, more intervention time-points, and increased physician training are needed to strengthen the intervention's impact.
authors.forename: Kimberly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Red
authors.forename: Sofiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Penek
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Barlow
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Porrazzo
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bass
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D013689:Telephone