Student volunteer navigation support accessing barriers to care for patients, families and caregivers with a cancer diagnosis through a social determinants of health assessment and connecting with resources with an effort to eliminate barriers.

Patients, families and caregivers with a cancer diagnosis without the support of student volunteer navigation and serving as the baseline and control.

Undergraduate or graduate students volunteering with ACS CARES program to provide navigation support to patients, families and caregivers with a cancer diagnosis.

Student volunteers providing navigation support to patients, families and caregivers with a cancer diagnosis through an SDOH assessment.

ACS CARES Student Navigation

The goal of this study is to evaluate the pilot phase of ACS Cares to identify key implementation outcomes and assess effectiveness of the program to improve distress, enhance communication, and reduce missed appointments and healthcare utilization.

In 2023, the American Cancer Society (ACS) created a new program, ACS Cares, based on the Take the Fight experience and existing literature on non-clinical navigation. The goal of ACS Cares is to supplement existing navigation infrastructure to extend navigation services to a broader population of patients. This is accomplished through designating lower level, timely tasks to volunteers and allowing paid navigators to practice at the highest level of their license (e.g nurses proving symptom management, higher level coordination). The goal of this study is to evaluate the pilot phase of ACS Cares to identify key implementation outcomes and assess effectiveness of the program to improve distress, enhance communication, and reduce missed appointments and healthcare utilization.

ACS Community Access to Resources Education and Support

Community Engagement in the Development of Oncology Navigation Training

• # of patients/caregivers approached for ACS CARES Median and range per volunteer • # of patients/caregivers who decline by refusal reason • # of patients/caregivers supported by ACS CARES Median and range per volunteer • # of patients/caregivers who received psychosocial distress screening Median and range per ACS CARES volunteer • # of patients/caregivers who received an SDOH screening Median and range per ACS CARES volunteer • # of follow-ups conducted Median and range per ACS CARES volunteer • # of in-person visits conducted Median and range per ACS CARES volunteer • # of shifts completed Median and range per ACS CARES volunteer • # of referrals received from health system team members

Patient characteristics: age, sex, gender (if available), race, ethnicity, insurance status, zip code, urban or rural residence, Area Deprivation Index category, and distance from cancer center (\<30 minutes, 30-60 minutes, \>60 minutes)

Cancer and treatment characteristics: cancer type, date of diagnosis, type of current treatment (Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation Therapy, Targeted Therapy, Immunotherapy, Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplant, Hormone Therapy), total clinic appointments, # clinic appts missed/cancelled, total infusion appointments, # infusion appointments missed/cancelled, total radiation treatment appts, # radiation treatment appointments missed/cancelled, enrolled in a clinical trial (y/n), start date of clinical trial participation, ER visits, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, total cost of care. For new patients during baseline or intervention time periods, date of first clinic visit.

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization	Link
ACS Community Access to Resources Education and Support	NCT06285929	Neoplasms	ACS CARES Stude...	-	American Cancer Society, Inc.
ACS Community Access to Resources Education and Support	NCT06285929	Neoplasms	ACS CARES Stude...	-	American Cancer Society, Inc.

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for acs cares student navigation