Ride Share Program for Prostate Cancer Access

Overseen By Wesley Chung

Age: 18+

Sex: Male

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Brigham and Women's Hospital

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 12

150 Participants Needed

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

Investigators will address the overarching challenge of advancing health equity and reducing disparities in prostate cancer by informing efforts to reduce travel burden in prostate cancer (PCa) treatment access among Black men.

Will I have to stop taking my current medications?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications.

What data supports the effectiveness of the treatment Ride Share for prostate cancer access?

Research shows that patient navigation programs, which help patients overcome barriers like transportation, can reduce missed appointments for prostate cancer care. This suggests that a Ride Share program could similarly improve access to treatment by addressing transportation issues. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

How does the Ride Share Program for Prostate Cancer Access differ from other treatments for prostate cancer?

The Ride Share Program for Prostate Cancer Access is unique because it focuses on improving access to prostate cancer care by providing transportation, rather than being a medical treatment itself. This approach addresses logistical barriers to receiving care, which is different from traditional treatments that focus on medical interventions. ^{2 4 6 7 8}

Research Team

Quoc-Dien Trinh, MD,MBA

Principal Investigator

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is specifically for Black men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer who are seeking surgery or radiation at the Mass General Brigham Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic. Participants should live in areas of Massachusetts with high travel burdens to medical appointments, or personally report transportation challenges.

Inclusion Criteria

I am looking for a final treatment for prostate cancer, either surgery or radiation, at the Mass General Brigham Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic.

This clinical trial is not open to black men.

My prostate cancer is not low-risk.

Exclusion Criteria

N/A

Timeline

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Pre-intervention

Historical controls sampled from the pre-intervention period to assess baseline missed appointments

April 2022 to September 2024

Intervention

Implementation of ridesharing services to reduce missed appointments among Black men seeking definitive PCa treatment

October 2024 to November 2025

Average of 12 visits per patient

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for missed appointments and time from diagnosis to treatment initiation

18 months

Treatment Details

Interventions

• Ride Share

Trial Overview The study is testing a ride share service to see if it helps reduce the difficulty of getting to treatment appointments for prostate cancer patients facing travel hardships. The goal is to improve health equity by making access to care easier.

Participant Groups

Group I: Ride Share Participants Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Investigators will recruit Black men with intermediate or high-risk PC who are seeking definitive treatment at Mass General Brigham Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic, as Black men are more likely to report travel burden when accessing care and, therefore, most likely to benefit from ridesharing services. Investigators will implement a pre/post-evaluation design with matched historical controls to estimate the impact of rideshares on reducing missed appointments. Historical controls will be sampled from the pre-intervention period of April 2022 to September 2024 and the post-intervention period between October 2024 and November 2025, where October 2024 represents the initiation of the intervention. Participants who identify as Black, reside in a census tract in Massachusetts, and have been recognized as having a high travel burden based on results from Aim 1 will be eligible to receive the rideshare intervention

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Lead Sponsor

Trials

1,694

Recruited

14,790,000+

United States Department of Defense

Collaborator

Trials

940

Recruited

339,000+

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Collaborator

Trials

1,128

Recruited

382,000+

Findings from Research

In a study involving 10,521 participants with abnormal cancer screenings and 2,105 with cancer diagnoses, patient navigation significantly improved the timeliness of diagnostic resolution and treatment initiation after 90 days, with adjusted hazard ratios of 1.51 and 1.43, respectively.

The effectiveness of patient navigation was particularly notable in centers where there were greater delays in follow-up care, suggesting that this intervention is especially beneficial for populations at risk of being lost to follow-up.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Impact of patient navigation on timely cancer care: the Patient Navigation Research Program. Freund, KM., Battaglia, TA., Calhoun, E., et al.[2022]

The TrueNTH Peer Navigation Training Program (PNTP) was found to be highly acceptable and effective for training prostate cancer survivors as peer navigators, with a satisfaction score of 9.4 out of 10 and a high usability rating of 84.5 out of 100.

Participants showed significant improvements in understanding learning objectives, self-efficacy, and eHealth literacy, indicating that the program effectively enhanced their knowledge and confidence in supporting others with cancer.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Training prostate cancer survivors and caregivers to be peer navigators: a blended online/in-person competency-based training program. Bender, JL., Flora, PK., Milosevic, E., et al.[2021]

The Prostate Outreach Project successfully educated and screened 4,420 men in medically underserved communities for prostate cancer, significantly increasing their knowledge about the disease and its detection methods.

Despite the successful recruitment and education, only 40% of men with abnormal screening examinations followed up for further medical care, highlighting a critical gap that could perpetuate disparities in prostate cancer outcomes, especially among African American participants who had a higher incidence of diagnosed cancers.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Prostate Cancer Education, Detection, and Follow-Up in a Community-Based Multiethnic Cohort of Medically Underserved Men. Ashorobi, OS., Frost, J., Wang, X., et al.[2019]

References

1. Netherlands pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Helping Men Find Their Way: Improving Prostate Cancer Clinic Attendance via Patient Navigation. [2021]

2. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Navigating veterans with an abnormal prostate cancer screening test: a quasi-experimental study. [2021]

3. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Impact of patient navigation on timely cancer care: the Patient Navigation Research Program. [2022]

4. Germany pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Training prostate cancer survivors and caregivers to be peer navigators: a blended online/in-person competency-based training program. [2021]

5. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Transportation as a barrier to colorectal cancer care. [2022]

6. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Reaching out in many directions: the fight against prostate cancer. [2005]

7. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Prostate Cancer Education, Detection, and Follow-Up in a Community-Based Multiethnic Cohort of Medically Underserved Men. [2019]

8. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Tumor testing and treatment patterns in veterans with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. [2023]