A Short Course for Creating Integrative Oncology Leaders

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The primary aim of this proposal is to improve the quality of life for people diagnosed with cancer by educating a multi-disciplinary group of oncology professionals who have the knowledge and skills to act as leaders for the safe and evidence-based integration of integrative therapies into conventional oncology care, education, and research. Around 46% of people with cancer already use some type of integrative therapies. Despite the high utilization of integrative therapies by people with cancer and the growing body of evidence on these therapies, there are currently no comprehensive training programs for oncology professionals. To address this gap, we previously developed the NCI-funded R25 Integrative Oncology Scholars (IOS) Program, a course to teach evidence-base integrative oncology to a multidisciplinary group of oncology providers including physicians, advanced practice providers, social workers, and psychologists. This course was able to significantly increase knowledge and skills in key integrative oncology topics, while also leading to a substantial number of new integrative oncology educational, research, and clinical initiatives. This proposal seeks to continue and expand on our original Specific Aims by: 1. Train an additional 125 integrative oncology leaders (25 participants per course x 5 courses = 125) via the short-course developed in our NCI-funded R25; 2. Increase the professions eligible to participate to include pharmacists and enrich the curriculum to contain more content focused on dietary supplements and herbal medicines; 3. Create partnerships between oncology leaders and integrative practitioners within their communities; 4. Evaluate the impact of this short-course by measuring the process and outcomes of the various educational activities over the course, and measuring the implementation and outcomes of the capstone projects initiated by participants at their home institutions after completion of the program; and to 5. Disseminate the findings through peer-reviewed journals, presentations at professional meetings, and through both conventional and integrative oncology networks and associations. A variety of evidence-based educational strategies (e.g., virtual courses, Web-based and print media) will be used to achieve the largest impact and to enhance project sustainability. Extensive process and outcome evaluation strategies will be used to measure the effectiveness of these educational efforts.