Improving Early Palliative Care with a Scalable, Stepped Peer Navigator and Social Work Intervention: A Single-Arm Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Patients with cancer could benefit from early primary (i.e., basic) palliative care. Scalable models of care delivery are needed.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the feasibility of a stepped peer navigator and social work intervention developed to improve palliative care outcomes.

DESIGN: Single-arm prospective clinical trial. The peer navigator educated patients to advocate for pain and symptom management with their healthcare providers, motivated patients to pursue advance care planning, and discussed the role of hospice. The social worker saw patients with persistent psychosocial distress.

SETTING/SUBJECTS: Patients with advanced cancer at a VA Medical Center not currently in palliative care or hospice whose oncologist would not be surprised if the patient died in the subsequent year.

MEASUREMENTS: Participation and retention rates, patient-reported symptoms and quality of life, advance directive documentation, patient satisfaction survey, and semistructured interviews.

RESULTS: The participation rate was 38% (17/45), and 35% (7/17) completed final survey measures. Patients had stage IV (81%) and primarily genitourinary (47%) and lung (24%) malignancies. Median Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was 0. Patient-reported surveys indicated low distress (mean scores: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General, 75.3 [standard deviation {SD} 17.6]; Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale symptom scores ranged from 1.6 to 3.8; Patient Health Questionnaire-9, 5.7 [SD 5.2]; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, 2.8 [SD 4.1]). Of those who had not completed advance directives at baseline (n = 11, 65%), five completed them by the end of study (5/11, 45%). Patients who completed satisfaction surveys (n = 7) and interviews (n = 4) provided mixed reviews of the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: At a single site, a stepped peer navigator and social work palliative care study had several challenges to feasibility, including low patient-reported distress and loss to follow-up.