A notable body of research shows that the prevalence of depressive symptoms among testicular cancer patients exceeds the general population. In fact, the majority of young adult cancer survivors will experience impairing, distressing, and modifiable physical, behavioral, and psychosocial adverse outcomes that persist long after the completion of primary cancer treatment.
Despite these alarming trends and unmet care needs, few targeted, effective interventions exist to support young survivors in re-negotiating life goals and regulating cancer-related emotions and none focus on reducing the burden of morbidity via biobehavioral mechanisms.
In a $3.3 million dollar grant recently funded by the National Cancer Institute, Michael Hoyt, PhD, principal investigator and professor of population health & disease prevention at the UC Irvine Program in Public Health is filling that gap with a novel intervention called goal-focused emotion regulation therapy (GET). The primary outcome of GET is to improve depressive symptoms with secondary outcomes around reductions in biological markers of stress and inflammation and evaluating whether gains in regulating emotion and goal attainment skills benefited young adult survivors.
We have the potential to understand how to alter the exact behavior, biological, and psychological factors that underscore long term adverse effects.”
– Michael Hoyt, PhD
In a randomized control trial of 300 young adult (ages 18-39) testicular cancer patients, a portion of the group will receive GET and the other portion will receive standard supportive listening. The study team’s unique approach comes into play by measuring the effectiveness of GET on psychological and physical health outcomes, and through specific biological markers of stress and inflammation found in oral fluids. These markers will be monitored at different checkpoints: baseline, post-treatment, 3-month follow up and, finally, 6-month follow up, to evaluate GET’s ability to resolve cancer-related burdens and see a reduction in stress and inflammation within the body.
“Our team is responding to a dire need for feasible, effective, and scalable interventions for young adult cancer survivors,” says Hoyt. “We have the potential to understand how to alter the exact behavior, biological, and psychological factors that underscore long term adverse effects.”
This grant builds upon preliminary data from a series of pilot studies conducted by Hoyt in 2021 on the same approach.
