WASHINGTON (February 16, 2023) – The Cancer Support Community and its social enterprise, Patient Planning Services, are announcing the launch of their newest product Checking IN, the novel digital mental health screening tool. Checking IN is a web-based pediatric distress screener for patients aged 8 through 21 who have chronic medical conditions. This evidence-informed screener gives providers insight into the psychological distress that their patients may be experiencing and how parents are perceiving their child’s mindset.

CSC and PPS have a decade of experience developing and managing adult distress screeners for healthcare providers. With Checking IN, they are responding to a need for mental health screening for younger patients. According to a study published in the journal Cancer Medicine, 48% of children and adolescents with cancer met criteria for anxiety, depression, or both following their diagnosis. Using Checking IN, pediatric patients answer a brief questionnaire that asks them about their emotions and well-being. The questionnaire uses a format and language that is designed specifically so children can understand and feel comfortable answering. For example, the screener avoids the word “distress,” which children dislike. The real-time responses allow providers to identify which patients are at risk so those patients can be contacted by a mental health clinician in a proactive manner.

Checking IN was developed to address a gap in the existing distress screeners, such as assessing for symptom interference or suicidal ideation. Checking IN has a number of features that distinguish it from existing pediatric screeners, and it provides real-time feedback to the provider. Providers found that Checking IN “[elicits] clinically useful and novel information,” according to research done on the screening tool. Checking IN, used in a standard manner with children receiving treatment for chronic conditions (e.g., cancer or other illnesses) may be the best way to facilitate early recognition of psychosocial distress, enhance communication with the treatment team, increase family engagement in care, and ultimately lead to better clinical outcomes.

“At CSC and PPS, we understand how important it is to screen people diagnosed with chronic illnesses, like cancer, for distress and connect them to helpful resources as quickly as possible,” said CSC CEO Debbie Weir. “Children are perhaps the most vulnerable members of this group. Building on CSC’s long experience screening adults, we are thrilled to contribute our extensive knowledge to the extraordinary team that has come together to develop a distress screener that speaks to children in their language through a familiar platform and helps healthcare professionals respond quickly.” 

Developed by researchers in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health, both part of the National Institutes of Health and using technology from PPS and CSC, Checking IN is an evidence-informed digital distress screening solution for chronic illness in pediatrics. The tool was launched for cancer, cardiology, and blood disorder patients at Atrium Health Levine Children’s in January 2023 and will become available for 13 additional pediatric specialties over the course of 2023.

“We are excited to launch the Checking IN program across all pediatric specialties,” said Amii C. Steele, Ph.D., division chief of Pediatric Psychology at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital. “We believe it will create an integrated health model that works to identify mental health issues before they grow severe and to connect pediatric patients to timely mental health services.”

“As we move out of the research phases and into the clinical realm, our hope is that the systematic use of Checking IN will elicit clinically significant information that can be acted upon by care teams to provide comprehensive and compassionate care to their pediatric patients, as we have seen with our adult patient and caregiver proprietary screeners,” said Cate O’Reilly, MSW, vice president of Patient Planning Services.

To learn more about this initiative, visit patientplanningservices.com.

To learn more about the research behind Checking IN, visit psycnet.apa.org.

About the Cancer Support Community

As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC), including its Gilda’s Club network partners, is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research, and advocacy. The organization’s Institute for Excellence in Psychosocial Care includes an international network that offers the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer, as well as a community of support available online and over the phone. The Research and Training Institute conducts cutting-edge psychosocial, behavioral, and survivorship research. CSC furthers its focus on patient advocacy through its Cancer Policy Institute, informing public policy in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. For more information, please call the toll-free Cancer Support Helpline at 888-793-9355 or visit CancerSupportCommunity.org.

About Patient Planning Services

Founded in 2013, Patient Planning Services (PPS) is the social enterprise for the Cancer Support Community. Dedicated to fulfilling the mission of the Cancer Support Community, PPS licenses proprietary programs and technology to hospitals, cancer centers and nonprofits.

Backed by research in digital distress screening, the proprietary measures provided by PPS score distress, provide risk subscales, and offer resources to help providers react and create action around the distress scoring. PPS works with patients, health care providers and community organizations to provide distress screening and other assessments on a digital platform that allows for both dynamic and static resource allocation in real time while meeting accreditation standards. PPS has expanded and now provides support for a number of chronic conditions in addition to cancer support.

Washington, D.C. (February 3, 2023) — The Cancer Support Community (CSC), the world’s largest professionally led nonprofit cancer support network, joins the Biden Administration, cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, and their loved ones in celebrating the one-year anniversary of the reinvigorated Cancer Moonshot, an initiative launched with the goal of cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years.

CSC joins with other patient advocates, researchers, and providers in celebrating the following accomplishments in just the last year:

• More than 25 new programs, policies and resources announced by federal agencies and departments to address five key areas: (1) closing the screening gap, (2) understanding and addressing environmental exposure, (3) decreasing the impact of preventable cancers, (4) bringing cutting-edge research through the pipeline to patients and communities, and (5) supporting patients and caregivers.
• More than 50 community conversations and events held by the White House and Cancer Cabinet.
• Over 60 new actions and collaborations from private companies, nonprofits, academic institutions, and patient groups to address cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, care, support, and survivorship.

Given its own work in advancing health equity through multiple initiatives, CSC also applauds the Moonshot’s new online hub, which includes several interactive features designed to increase awareness about cancer disparities, innovation in early detection and treatment, and patient- and clinician-oriented resources to close gaps in cancer care delivery. Having recently worked on several partnerships with the goal of reaching patients in rural areas, we applaud the formation of a new coalition to address the obstacles rural patient communities face accessing care.

“At CSC, we firmly believe that Community Is Stronger Than Cancer and we are proud to count President Joe Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Cancer Moonshot Coordinator Danielle Carnival, Ph.D., and the entire Cancer Moonshot team as members of that Community,” said CSC CEO Debbie Weir. “Their leadership and commitment have clearly been the catalyst toward progress in this space.”

CSC encourages the cancer community to engage at whitehouse.gov/cancermoonshot where patients can share their stories of inspiration and hope; people can provide their ideas on how to make progress; and organizations, companies, and institutions can commit new actions to help achieve Cancer Moonshot goals.

About the Cancer Support Community

As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC), including its Gilda’s Club network partners, is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research, and advocacy. The organization’s Institute for Excellence in Psychosocial Care includes an international network that offers the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer, as well as a community of support available online and over the phone. The Research and Training Institute conducts cutting-edge psychosocial, behavioral, and survivorship research. CSC furthers its focus on patient advocacy through its Cancer Policy Institute, informing public policy in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. For more information, please call the toll-free Cancer Support Helpline at 888-793-9355 or visit www.CancerSupportCommunity.org.

The expanded resources respond to findings from research on cancer and mental health

Washington, D.C. (January  23, 2023) — Cancer Support Community (CSC), a global nonprofit that provides free emotional support, navigation, and resources to cancer patients and their loved ones, is expanding their robust suite of resources focused on mental health in response to the growing need. These come at a time when the need for mental health care is at an all-time high. CSC aims to expand its reach with these newly developed resources, which build upon existing support services such as their toll-free cancer support Helpline, distress screenings, and online support community MyLifeLine, along with the professionally led support that people can receive at any of CSC’s 196 locations.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States live with a mental illness. These numbers are concerning, and even more so when factoring in the stress of cancer. Clinical depression affects an estimated 15-25% of cancer patients, and anxiety affects an estimated 23%, according to research published in the journal Oncology.

“At CSC, we understand that mental health care and psychosocial support are crucial to whole-person cancer care,” said Alexandra Zaleta, Ph.D., CSC’s Vice President of Research. “Through our research, we want to hear directly from people living with cancer to understand their unmet support needs so that we can continue to improve cancer care.”

Recently, CSC’s Research and Training Institute surveyed more than 600 cancer patients and survivors to learn about how cancer impacted their mental health. According to the study, 60 percent of participants were not referred to mental health professionals for the emotional distress they were experiencing. Further, one in five did not receive the mental health support they wanted. These and other findings from this research will be shared with patient advocates and healthcare providers to shed a bright light on the experiences and needs of patients and survivors. The study was funded by BeiGene, who used the learnings to help develop Talk About It, its new mental health support website for cancer patients.

CSC has prioritized making mental health information accessible to everyone, no matter where they may be. At its many network partner locations, people impacted by cancer have access to free emotional support, healthy lifestyle activities, social connection, education, and referral services. In addition, CSC has partnered with several technology companies to pilot programs using digital formats to deliver support:

• A partnership with Carevive, an oncology-focused health technology company, uses technology to screen patients for symptoms and side effects of cancer alongside CSC’s screening for psychological distress, keeping patients virtually connected to a real-life care team.
• Through a collaboration with Equiva, a healthcare technology company, CSC will provide tablets preconfigured with mental health resources to people residing in rural and underserved communities. A pilot program in Minnesota has launched.
• CSC is piloting two different 12-week app-based mental health interventions for cancer patients who are experiencing depression or anxiety. These programs, developed by Meru Health and Blue Note Therapeutics, teach patients behavioral and mindfulness techniques.
• CSC’s recently launched blog series “Spotlight on Mental Health,” published on its website, will roll out over several months, educating readers on the importance of caring for their mental health and the support that is available to them.

“In this critical moment, it is crucial that we address the mental health needs of people who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis in their lives,” said CSC CEO Debbie Weir. “With our new initiatives, we are able to address a multitude of issues in a multitude of ways, allowing people to get the help they need in a way that works best for their unique situations.”

About the Cancer Support Community

As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC), including its Gilda’s Club network partners, is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research, and advocacy. The organization’s Institute for Excellence in Psychosocial Care includes an international network that offers the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer, as well as a community of support available online and over the phone. The Research and Training Institute conducts cutting-edge psychosocial, behavioral, and survivorship research. CSC furthers its focus on patient advocacy through its Cancer Policy Institute, informing public policy in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. For more information, please call the toll-free Cancer Support Helpline at 888-793-9355 or visit www.CancerSupportCommunity.org.