Katie Devine
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Psychology
Surviving cancer as a child or young adult is only the start of a long health journey. Childhood cancer survivors need lifelong follow-up care to watch for late effects of their treatment, yet fewer than 1 in 5 adult survivors get the care that matches their risks.
- Fields
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
childhood cancer survivors
adolescent and young adult cancer
survivorship care
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Test whether Managing Your Health, a mobile app combined with six peer-mentor sessions, improves self-management behaviors and quality of life compared with educational control in a randomized trial of 300 childhood cancer survivors aged 18–25.
- Determine whether the Managing Your Health program increases guideline-concordant follow-up care at 12 months, measured by medical record review, and identify mediators and moderators of its effects, with oversampling of Hispanic survivors.
- Evaluate whether Bright IDEAS-YA, a six-session problem-solving skills training program, reduces distress and improves quality of life compared with enhanced usual care in a multi-site trial of 344 young adults aged 18–39 in cancer treatment.
- Assess whether Bright IDEAS-YA effects last to 2 years after enrollment, identify barriers to using it in clinical practice, and culturally and linguistically adapt it for Hispanic young adults.
More about the research
Young adults with cancer also report more emotional distress and lower quality of life than older patients. One reason is that cancer disrupts school, careers, finances and relationships. This work develops and tests one-on-one behavioral programs to help adolescents and young adults (AYAs) manage their health and cope with cancer. Both projects pay particular attention to Hispanic young people.
Why it matters
Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors often miss the screenings and checkups needed to catch late effects of treatment. Young adult patients also face high distress during treatment. If these trials show benefit, the peer-mentoring app and the problem-solving training could become practical tools for clinics. They could help survivors, including Hispanic young adults who are at higher risk of dropping out of care, stay connected to follow-up care and cope with cancer.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Digital Self-Management and Peer Mentoring Intervention to Improve the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care for Childhood Cancer Survivors
NIH · Jul 2023 – Jun 2028
Bright IDEAS-Young Adults: Problem-Solving Skills Training to Reduce Distress among Young Adults with Cancer
NIH · Apr 2020 – Mar 2027
Closest labs
Carmina Valle
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether a 6-month mHealth weight-loss program tailored to adolescent and young adult cancer survivors produces greater weight loss at 6 months than a self-guided program, in a nationwide randomized trial of 240 survivors.
Kelly Hyland
Medical University of South Carolina, SC·Psychology·Early-career
Refine LiveWell, an 8-session videoconference adaptation of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Training, using patient exit interviews, an advisory board, the Dynamic Sustainability Framework and user testing with 10 patients with metastatic lung cancer.
Laura Caccavale
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Psychology·Early-career
Test whether the 6-month SHIFT2 transition program improves blood sugar control, measured by HbA1c, compared with enhanced usual care in a randomized trial of 50 people with type 1 diabetes aged 16–22.
The school
Rutgers University-New Brunswick: 57 labs on PI Pages, $837M a year on research, 713 research doctorates a year.
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