AeYA FORT
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Brooke Russell is a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Calgary in 2024. Her research interests focus on fear of cancer recurrence and other psychosocial outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer.
She is currently working on adapting the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Therapy (FORT) intervention for adolescent and early young adult survivors of childhood cancer. Her clinical interests are in clinical, health, and rehabilitation psychology and she has a small clinical practice seeing children, teens, and young adults with cancer.
Dr. Brooke Russell is currently developing the fear of recurrence therapy (FORT) intervention for adolescent and young adult (AeYA) survivors of childhood cancer.
With the guidance of a youth patient advisory board, Dr. Russell’s team will adapt the FORT program for the unique needs and experiences AeYAs experience.
FAQs
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Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is the fear, worry, or concern that cancer may come back or progress. We recognize that you may have multiple, varying, and unique worries, such as late effects, secondary cancers, schooling, and general health.
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Interested parents will be randomly assigned to receive the intervention immediately, or will be placed on a 3-month waitlist control group.
Participation will consist of weekly online group therapy sessions for 2 hours for 7 weeks, during which you will be asked to participate in activities, participate in group discussions, and complete homework.
Participants will also be asked to complete a 20-minute questionnaire package before starting the therapy, immediately after the last session, and 3 months later. The questionnaires will assess fear of cancer recurrence, the psychological impact of cancer, uncertainty, coping, and quality of life.
Finally, an exit interview will be conducted with all participants to better understand their experience.
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Participants will be compensated $20 for each of the three questionnaires.
By participating in this research, parents may experience a decrease in their fear of cancer recurrence, their cancer-specific distress, their uncertainty in illness, and an increase in their quality of life and their coping.
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Interested participants are encouraged to email the research coordinator, Celeste Holy, at choly@uottawa.ca.