11035 Background: EPCT participants use varying strategies to cope with uncertainty related to their cancer, treatment, and prognosis. However, little is known about how coping strategies change over time among EPCT participants and how longitudinal changes correlate with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and clinical outcomes. Methods: We prospectively enrolled adults with cancer participating in EPCTs at Massachusetts General Hospital from 4/2021-1/2023. Participants completed monthly PROs assessing coping strategies (Brief COPE), symptoms (Edmonton Symptom Assessment System ESAS), quality of life (QOL; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General), hope (Herth Hope Index), and financial wellbeing (COST tool). We used regression models to assess associations of baseline (B/L) PROs with changes in coping scores over time (B/L to month 1 M1 and B/L to month 2 M2). We also explored how changes in coping predicted clinical outcomes (time on trial ToT, overall survival OS). Results: We enrolled 195 of 251 eligible patients (78% enrollment), and 188 completed the B/L surveys (96% response, median age=63 range: 32-89, 56% female, most common cancer types: gastrointestinal 34% and breast 21%). Higher B/L QOL predicted decreased behavioral disengagement coping at M1 (B=-0.01, p=.037) increased use of behavioral disengagement (HR=1.41, p=.007) predicted worse OS. Conclusions: In this longitudinal cohort study, EPCT participants’ B/L PROs correlated with changes in their coping over time. We also found longitudinal changes in coping predicted ToT and OS. These findings highlight opportunities to enhance care delivery and outcomes for EPCT participants by addressing their PROs and coping behavior over time.
Lam et al. (Wed,) studied this question.