FORwards Webinars

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Fear of Recurrence Webinar Series. This new Zoom-based webinar series aims to bring together our international community of FORwards researchers and clinicians, to provide cutting-edge updates on brand-spanking new research on fear of cancer recurrence, and to spark new conversations and collaborative projects across the globe. Watch your inboxes for details of the first webinar in the series, which will be hosted next month.

FORwards research opportunity – call for student/postdoc to lead

FORwards intends to support a research project to develop and publish a paper on the ‘Core Outcome Domains and Measures for Fear of Cancer Recurrence/Progression Studies and Clinical Trials.’ The paper will follow a similar structure as this influential paper published in the field of pediatric pain. We are looking for a postdoc or a student researcher to lead this project – PIs please contact [email protected] if your postdoc/student is interested.

New online FCR research hub

The Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG) in Australia have launched an online FCR resource hub (https://www.pocog.org.au/content.aspx?pagetype=public&page=fcrhub&version=1&search=*) to make it easier for people to access the ConquerFear intervention materials and research involving members of the ConquerFear team.

Call for ECR opportunities

FORwards is committed to supporting our Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Do you know of an upcoming postdoc position or ECR funding opportunity? If so, please send all announcements to [email protected] so that we can compile these and disseminate to our ECR community.

FCR Research

FORwards members have been hard at work publishing new papers on fear of cancer recurrence and progression over the last few months. Below is a selection of new papers from our SIG members.

• Muldbücker, P, et al. Are women more afraid than men? Fear of recurrence in couples with cancer–predictors and sex-role-specific differences. Journal of psychosocial oncology (2020).
• Heathcote, L. C., Zion, S. R., & Crum, A. J. Cancer survivorship – considering mindsets. JAMA oncology (2020).
• Cho, D., & Park, C. L. Moderating effects of perceived growth on the association between fear of cancer recurrence and health-related quality of life among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Journal of psychosocial oncology, (2017).
• Shim, E. J., et al. Trajectory of fear of cancer recurrence and beliefs and rates of medication adherence in patients with breast cancer. Psycho‐Oncology (2020).
• Lebel, S., et al. Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. PloS one (2020).
• Reb, A. M., et al. Fear of Cancer Progression: Findings From Case Studies and a Nurse-Led Intervention. Clinical journal of oncology nursing (2020).
• Thiele, S., et al. Fear of disease progression and relevant correlates in acute leukemia patients prior to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Psycho‐Oncology (2020).
• Martin, C. M., et al. The Impact of Social Constraints on Insomnia Among African‐American Breast Cancer Survivors: The Mediating Role of Fear of Recurrence. Psycho‐Oncology (2020).

If you would like to include an update in the Autumn newsletter, or know a student or colleague who would like to join this SIG, please reach out to Lauren Heathcote (FORwards Secretary) at [email protected].  Thank you all for the phenomenal work that you do to support people living with and beyond cancer.