Study to Identify Individual Needs for Tailored Coaching During Anti-Hormone Therapy for Hormone-Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

A common characteristic of breast cancer cells is the presence of a hormone receptor on their surface. About 70 percent of all breast cancer patients have a hormone receptor-positive tumor. This means that female hormones, particularly estrogen, promote cancer growth by binding to the tumor cells. For this reason, medications are used that specifically block the release of these hormones. Follow-up treatment (adjuvant therapy) for the disease after chemotherapy and surgery therefore often consists of anti-hormone therapy, as this can help combat any remaining tumor cells. However, this therapy usually lasts several years, in some cases up to ten years. However, about half of all patients discontinue therapy within five years, with a significant proportion stopping as early as the first year. Reasons for discontinuing therapy include severe physical and psychological side effects that resemble symptoms experienced during menopause. This poses a major challenge for treatment. Social research studies show that patients are less likely to suffer from these symptoms and less likely to discontinue therapy if they are well-informed about the treatment and feel they can cope with the associated challenges on their own.

The PaTyp study therefore aims to document patients’ responses to anti-hormone therapy, particularly with regard to their acceptance of the disease and their sense of control over its progression. Based on these individual needs, patients will be divided into four different groups (types), for each of which specific support services will be developed. Such an approach is not yet standard practice. To evaluate the success of the intervention, patients will be randomly assigned to two groups. One group receives type-specific coaching, while the other group is treated according to current standard procedures (i.e., does not receive coaching). The patients are monitored over a total period of 24 months. New medications are not being evaluated in this study.

Breast cancer patients with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer are eligible to participate in the study. The first phase of treatment (usually chemotherapy and surgery) must already be complete, and they must be receiving adjuvant anti-hormone therapy. This treatment must have begun no more than eight weeks ago. The cancer must not have spread (metastasized) throughout the body.