Aim:
Despite the growing accessibility of online interactive support services, many cancer patients still do not engage with these services. The study aimed to identify (as part of a three-arm randomised controlled trial) the proportion of participants in each intervention arm (telephone versus online) who engaged with the intervention.
Method:
288 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients were recruited from 31 cancer services and randomly allocated to receive telephone support, online support or a booklet from Cancer Council NSW. Following randomisation, participants were sent a letter notifying them of their allocation. A trained oncology nurse consultant attempted to conduct one or more outbound phone call/s with telephone arm participants. For online arm participants, a reminder email and phone calls were conducted to encourage service engagement. Data extracted from Cancer Council databases were used to assess engagement with the telephone and online arms.
Results:
The proportion of participants who engaged with the telephone or online chat service and degree of engagement are reported. Of 388 participants assessed as eligible, 307 (78%) completed baseline and were randomised to one of the study arms. The proportion of participants engaging with the telephone intervention was 75%, while 9% of those allocated to the online arm engaged with the intervention.
Conclusions:
Levels of engagement with online support are relatively low. Further study data will be used to identify the patient factors affecting engagement with telephone and online support services.