In addition to YACC’s Recover Study, here are some opportunities to use your voice and your experience to help understand, shape, and improve the future of young adult cancer!
Are you conducting a study relevant to young adults dealing with cancer? Please email an image, blurb, relevant links, and registration deadline date to [email protected] before August 31 to be included in the September roundup!
Acadia University
Were you diagnosed with cancer at or under age 40? Do you have a child or children under age 12? Are you currently in or waiting for cancer treatment?
The Closer Lab at Acadia University is looking for participants meeting these criteria to help pilot test an app that may help reduce some of the fears commonly reported by parents with cancer (e.g., fear about the potential of not seeing one’s children grow up). The study would involve completing a writing exercise via the app as well as two questionnaires (one before, and one after the exercise). Participants would receive a digital file with their responses to the writing exercise and will be compensated for their time.
Please contact for [email protected] for more information.
Watch this video, or read the video transcript for more information.
BC Cancer Foundation
Seeking lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and other non-heterosexual adolescents and young adults with cancer experience in BC who would like to describe their unique perspectives on coming out to their cancer care team.
We’re seeking participants to share their experiences during a 60-90 minute interview. The interviews are part of a PhD research project and information gathered will be used to understand how cancer care professionals can better support their 2S/LGBTQ+ patients.
Email Whitney at [email protected] for more info or to sign up.
University of British Columbia
Have you been diagnosed with or have a history of gynecological cancer? The UBC Sexual Health Research lab is looking for individuals to complete a 20-minute survey that is looking at knowledge of sexual difficulties after cancer and health-seeking behaviours.
To participate, you must:
- Have a self-reported current or history of gynecological cancer of any subtype
- Be fluent in English
- Have internet access and basic competency using a computer
To complete the survey, click here: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9v3FAIpEJ1aAa6G
If you have any questions, contact: [email protected]
University of Calgary
Researchers at the University of Calgary are seeking participants for a study to understand young people’s (aged 18 to 29) relationship with their parents and siblings in the face of blood cancer.
Participants will be asked to participate in an hour-long interview with the researcher virtually via Zoom or at a mutually agreed upon location and time. You will be given the opportunity to recruit your parent(s) and/or sibling(s) to the study. Interviews can occur with or without parent and siblings.
If you are someone who with experience of blood cancer (e.g., leukemia or lymphoma) as an emerging adult (aged 18 to 29) and would like to participate in this study, please email Sandip Dhaliwal (RN, Doctoral Student) at [email protected].
University of Calgary
Researchers at the University of Calgary are asking thyroid cancer survivors from anywhere in Canada and at any point in their journey to answer a few questions about care experiences, treatment satisfaction, and working with your care team.
You can access the survey here.
Not sure if you want to participate? That’s ok! The University of Calgary have a page where you can find out more and get in contact with their research team with any questions you might have.
Find out more information from the University of Calgary here.
Concordia University
The Childhood Cancer Identity Project (CCHIP) is looking for individuals to participate in an online study looking at how individuals’ view themselves after cancer treatment has ended, which they call cancer identity. The CCHIP also wants to learn if cancer identity relates to mental and physical health among adults with a history of childhood cancer.
Eligible participants are at least 18 years or older, have previously been treated for childhood cancer before the age of 18, currently reside in Canada or the United States, are fluent in reading and writing in English, and have access to a device with WiFi or internet capabilities.
For more information about this study, please contact CCHIP at [email protected] or click here to participate in our eligibility consent and screening.
Memorial University
Memorial University are currently conducting a study to help understand the characteristics, changes, issues, or opportunities in social as well as workplace interactions and conditions of people diagnosed with cancer.
The study is currently looking for participants who have been diagnosed with cancer in the last five years, were under the age of 45 when diagnosed, and have lived and been employed in Newfoundland & Labrador since their diagnosis.
Email [email protected] to learn more!
Memorial University
Sleep, Health & Wellness Lab are a psycho-oncology sleep lab based out of Memorial University of Newfoundland’s psychology department.
Sleep, Health & Wellness Lab have introduced a new research study to treat insomnia in cancer survivors through a smartphone-based app called iCANSleep. The iCANSleep App has been developed in close collaboration with cancer survivors, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness, and includes the core components of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I).
The study is currently seeking eligible participants who have ever received a cancer diagnosis, have difficulty falling or staying asleep, are an iPhone user, and live anywhere in Canada.
The study involves a 7-week app-based Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) program, 2 short surveys, and a 30-minute exit interview.
You can learn more about this study by emailing [email protected], visiting www.sleephealthwellnesslab.ca, or by phone at (709) 864-8035.
Memorial University
The Sleep, Health, & Wellness Lab at Memorial University are recruiting for a new treatment study for breast cancer survivors who have trouble falling or staying asleep. The purpose of this study is to see how a new home-based polysomnographic measure of sleep depth and quality changes in response to treatment with cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. They are also interested in examining how these changes in sleep are related to changes in cognitive functioning. As part of this study, eligible participants will receive 7 weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.
The study is recruiting women who have completed their primary treatment for stage I-III breast cancer (ongoing hormonal treatment is acceptable) at least six months prior, are not diagnosed with another sleep disorder (such as sleep apnea). Participants must live in the St. John’s area.
For those interested in participating, please email [email protected] to inquire about eligibility screening. More information is available at https://drsheilagarland.com/cerebra-study
Université de Montréal
Researchers at Université de Montréal are conducting a study to better understand the perspective of young adults affected by blood cancers on what they wanted or needed to learn to be able to cope with consequences of cancer and be more active and confident in their ability to manage their health after active treatment.
Researchers are currently recruiting young adults (ages 18-29), who have received a diagnosis of lymphoma, leukemia or other blood cancers, and who are no longer receiving active treatment for at least a year.
Eligible participants will be invited to a 60-minute interview which can be done in-person or via Zoom.
For any questions or to express your interest, contact Benedicta Hartono at [email protected].
Newfoundland & Labrador Health Services
Researchers at Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services are studying the implementation of a web-based application for people with breast, colorectal, lymphoma or head and neck cancer. REACH is an online tool for cancer rehabilitation, designed by clinicians, researchers, and patients that will screen for cancer-related symptoms and link people to rehabilitation resources to help manage side effects from treatment.
Once registered to use REACH, there is an option to also enroll in the research project associated with this App. The REACH Study will look at de-identified data to study how to improve REACH and invite participants to participate in a survey and/or focus group about their experiences using REACH.
To register, or to find out more information, visit reach.uhn.ca, or email the REACH team at [email protected]
Check out this video for more information about REACH.
Newfoundland & Labrador Health Services
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) is hoping to recruit three patient partners for a study Examining sexual health in cancer patients, a project being funded by the Health Care Foundation which is a collaboration between NLHS and MUN.
Key goals of this study are to better understand patients’ perspectives on sexual health throughout their cancer journey, to determine when and which provider should discuss sexual health with patients and what parts of sexual health are most important to patients. The study also hopes to better understand how the cancer journey impacts patients’ perception of their gender and sexuality.
Newfoundland & Labrador Health Services are aiming to recruit three patient partners with lived cancer experiences who can join the team for two years of this study. Patient partners can be involved across all stages of the study, but the researchers expect meeting with patient partners 2-3 times a year to gain their input on the project and to review study materials. These meetings could be virtual or in-person, whichever the patient partner prefers.
The study is open to patient partners of any age or gender with diverse cancer experiences and sexual health concerns. Participants would receive an honorarium of $225 per year to recognize the value of their time and lived experience.
For more information about the role of patient partners, please contact: Research Assistant, Brooklyn Sparkes at [email protected] 709-777-9066, or study lead Dr. Cindy Whitten at [email protected]. 709-777-7614.
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is calling young adults (18 to 39 years) with cancer assigned female at birth who are currently receiving treatment or completed their treatment. This research study is to evaluate an educational video on how cancer and cancer treatment impacts sexual health.
If you choose to take part, you will watch the 12-minute video and be asked to complete a short survey before and after watching. The goal of this study is to help determine how Princess Margaret Cancer Centre can best support young adults with cancer to learn about and manage their sexual health. If interested, please contact Natalie Pitch (Resident Physician) at [email protected].
Click here to access the survey.
University of Toronto
Lauren Squires, a PhD candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, is conducting research is focused on exploring online support group (OSG) use/non-use among sexual and gender diverse (SGD) people with breast/chest cancer, with the goal of optimizing OSGs for this population.
Squires said, “I want to ensure my findings are relevant to populations that are often overlooked in SGD cancer research, including but not limited to SGD people of colour and trans and gender diverse people. To this end, I’ll be using an intersectional approach to actively inform my research to increase the applicability of my findings to those who are underrepresented in this area.”
If you would like to take part, please email [email protected]!
University of Toronto
Researchers at The Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto are looking for young adults treated for cancer as adolescents to become members of a virtual research advisory group. This group will provide ideas and feedback on research designed to understand how adolescents living with advanced cancer understand and define quality of life.
They are looking for:
- Individuals aged 18-25
- Young adults treated for cancer as an adolescent
- Availability to attend virtual meetings every 2-3 months
“Please consider joining this Advisory Group and sharing your ideas and experiences. We hope that this research contributes to the clinical care of adolescents living with advanced cancer.”
If you would like to participate in this advisory group, or if you are unsure about participating and would like more information, please contact Andrea Johnson, PhD at [email protected]
Western University
Researchers at Western University are conducting a study called “Exploring How Gender-Based Violence Determines Breast Cancer Treatment Trajectories and Health Outcomes for Canadian Women: The START Study.” The study aims to investigate how Canadian women’s relationship and childhood experiences are related to their breast cancer outcomes.
Click here to learn more and sign up.
