Brendan Noonan
Lecturer Practitioner, School of Nursing and Midwifery,
University College Cork
Timely, supportive care is vital for addressing the documented unmet needs of men with urological cancers. Such interventions prevent and manage adverse effects, reduce burdens and enhance quality of life throughout their cancer journey.
The Irish Cancer Society-funded ‘Liam Mc Trial’ is a cancer survivorship programme, designed with the input of patient representatives who highlighted the unmet needs of cancer survivors.
Cancer survivorship programme for men
An important aspect of the trial is research on how to enhance survivorship support for underserved communities of men with historically overlooked disparities in cancer incidence, prognosis, outcome and quality of life.
The trial aims to assess the feasibility and impact of a holistic and person-centred, 12-week survivorship programme on patients’ physical, social and psychosocial needs and their cancer-related symptoms. The trial will enrol men with genitourinary cancer malignancies — cancers of the urinary and reproductive system such as prostate, bladder and testicular cancer.
The goal is to make this programme a
standard component of clinical care for
all cancer patients in the future.
Individualised support provided by experts
The programme involves twice-weekly input from a physiotherapist, dietitian, specialist nursing, medical social worker and psycho-oncology specialists. Programme oversight is provided by medical oncologists. The main aim of the trial is to assess the feasibility of the Liam Mc Trial programme. Additionally, secondary outcomes will focus on measures such as quality of life; muscle strength and mass; weight maintenance; cancer-related symptom control; and cancer-related fatigue scores.
Helping more cancer patients in their survivorship journey
Study enrolment commenced in June 2023. Over the two-year study period, the total anticipated recruitment is 72 participants. If this intervention proves feasible, the experiences and findings will serve as the foundation for a quality improvement initiative. The goal is to make this programme a standard component of clinical care for all cancer patients in the future.
Early data from this ongoing trial shows high acceptability among men who were offered the programme, and those who participated expressed high levels of satisfaction with the programme itself. One Liam Mc Trial participant shares: “This programme has really helped me through my treatment.” Another discloses: “Up until now, I hadn’t really spoken about my cancer but, listening to the lads talking about theirs, I think I might tell people I have cancer.”