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Abstract
Background. Group medical consultations (GMCs) provide individual medical visits in the presence of ≤ 7 peer- patients. This study evaluated the efficacy of GMCs in the yearly breast cancer surveillance of BRCA mutation carriers.
Material and methods. This randomized controlled trial compared GMCs (intervention group, n = 63) with individual medical visits (control group, n = 59). Between-group differences on the primary outcomes distress and empowerment, were analyzed one week and three months after the visit. Feasibility is evaluated in terms of demand, acceptability and practicability.
Results. No between-group differences were found on primary outcomes. More themes were discussed in GMCs. Seventy-five percent of GMC-participants experienced peer support. Carriers reported significantly higher satisfaction with individual visits. GMCs were less time-efficient.
Conclusion. This is the first GMC study which reports results in favor of individual visits. The hereditary nature of the condition differentiates our study population from earlier studied GMC groups. Even though most participants experienced peer support and received more information, the lower patient satisfaction may be explained by the lack of individual time with the clinician and disruption of normal surveillance routines. As the need for peer support and additional information is present in a substantial part of carriers, future research should study the process of peer support.
Acknowledgments
The study is funded by the Pink Ribbon foundation, the Netherlands. We thank all study participants and Martine van Koolwijk, social worker and Wilmy Bos, clinical nurse specialist, for their contributions to the GMCs.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
Supplementary material available online
Supplementary Table I–III available online at http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0284186X.2015.1049292