# Digital Self-Management and Peer Mentoring Intervention to Improve the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care for Childhood Cancer Survivors

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $630,386

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Childhood cancers require lifelong risk-based follow-up care tailored to their treatment exposures,
including routine medical appointments, monitoring for late effects, and regular cancer screenings. Unfortunately,
less than 1 in 5 adult survivors of childhood cancer obtain such risk-based follow-up care. The transition from
pediatric to adult follow-up care for adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors is a critical period when many
survivors are lost to follow-up, particularly AYA survivors who identify as Hispanic or have low self-efficacy to
manage their care. While the barriers to care are well-characterized, there are no efficacious interventions to
help improve this transition for AYA survivors of childhood cancer.
 To address this gap, we developed Managing Your Health, a digital self-management and peer mentoring
intervention to improve survivorship care self-management. It consists of six 1:1 virtual sessions with a peer
mentor, another young adult survivor who independently manages their own care. Each session involves
discussion of a complementary web-based self-management educational module. Peer mentors act as
supportive accountability agents, providing specialized support based on shared experience and facilitating
engagement with the modules. Our preliminary two-arm randomized feasibility trial showed that survivors found
the intervention useful, were highly engaged, and reported significant improvements in self-management. Per
participant feedback, we translated the web-based modules into a mobile app for easier accessibility. The goal
of this project is to evaluate the efficacy of Managing Your Health (app + peer mentoring) compared with
educational control in a two-arm randomized trial with 300 young adult survivors of childhood cancer currently
aged 18-25 years. We will oversample for AYA survivors who identify as Hispanic given evidence of low self-
efficacy and follow-up care in this group. Participants will complete outcome measures at baseline, 3 months,
and 12 months post-randomization, with medical record abstraction for guideline-concordant care at 12 months.
Specific aims will evaluate the efficacy of the intervention on self-management behaviors, quality of life, and
adherence to guideline-concordant follow-up care, as well as mediators and moderators of treatment effects.
The proposed research aligns with priorities detailed in the notice of special interest “Navigating Pediatric to
Adult Health Care: Lost in Translation,” and seeks to address gaps in the long-term health care of childhood
cancer survivors by evaluating an innovative theory-based intervention to facilitate the transition from pediatric
to adult self-management of care.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10878941
- **Project number:** 5R01CA282147-02
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Katie A Devine
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $630,386
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10878941

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10878941, Digital Self-Management and Peer Mentoring Intervention to Improve the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care for Childhood Cancer Survivors (5R01CA282147-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10878941. Licensed CC0.

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