University of Illinois Cancer Center member Elizabeth Papautsky, PhD, MS, is the Principal Investigator (PI) of a two-year $150,000 National Cancer Institute (NCI) RO3 grant, “Using Qualitative Methods to Capture Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients and Characterize Knowledge Types and Levels.”
Cancer Center Deputy Director VK Gadi, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist specializing in breast cancer at UI Health, is a Co-Investigator on the grant. Papautsky’s expertise is in patient decision-making (using human factors perspective). An Assistant Professor of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences in the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, the primary focus of her research is on characterizing patient cognitive and behavioral work across the breast cancer care continuum to inform human-centered support solutions.
The abstract of the grant is excerpted below:
“Gaps and misconceptions in patient knowledge can contribute to poor care adherence, decreased quality of life and even negative outcomes. There is an urgent need to systematically capture, characterize and develop mechanisms for breast cancer patient knowledge sharing. The objective of our study is to capture the lived experiences of breast cancer patients and characterize their knowledge types, levels and gaps longitudinally, starting at diagnosis. Topics include comprehension of illness (type, stage, prognosis), treatment decision-making, navigating emergent events resulting in deviations from treatment trajectory (e.g., hospitalization for neutropenic fever). In a collaboration between a human factors researcher, medical oncologist and a patient partner, we will conduct semi-structured Cognitive Task Analysis interviews with 35 adult breast cancer patients. We will use findings to develop taxonomy of patient knowledge across the care continuum.”