UAB School of Health Professions and School of Nursing Professor Patrick McNees, PhD, FAAN (MPI) and School of Nursing Professor Karen Meneses, PhD, RN, FAAN received a $1.3 million R01 award from the National Institute of Nursing Research for their 3 year (2009-2012) study titled, “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis into Factors Affecting Quality of Life Health Related Research” (1R01NR011885-01).

The overall goal of the newly funded project is to determine the cost-effectiveness of the telephone-supported Rural Breast Cancer Survivors (RBCS) Intervention Package, a psychoeducational support intervention designed for rural dwelling breast cancer survivors.

The project was submitted in response to the NIH’s RFA-NR-09-005, Incorporating cost-effectiveness analysis into factors affecting quality of life (QOL) health related research.

Currently the US standard of care for post treatment breast cancer survivors equals very little care.  The deficit of care is reduced further for those individuals who live in rural settings.  What care is available is often times not covered by conventional insurance and not affordable for most survivors.  According to McNees “Women who are survivors of breast cancer are often times lost in the transition between treatment and survivorship; this transition can have a huge impact on QOL”.

The RBCS project has sought to create a conduit where care is accessible (financially and geographically) to those living in rural areas. Drs. McNees and Meneses hope to further develop the RBCS intervention with the aim to maximize breast cancer survivor’s QOL at the lowest reasonable cost with the best outcomes, making the opportunities for competent, effective, and informed care.

Ideally, the results of this study will not only allow better determinations of the costs of maintaining the intervention package as a service and the specific effects on breast cancer survivors, but also will provide cost-effectiveness data to effectively educate and inform consumers and healthcare providers.

As a means to facilitate and expand collaborations across disciplines, Drs. McNees and Meneses have been awarded these funds using the multiple principal investigator (MPI) model.  This award will strengthen the ties and research opportunities between the School of Nursing (SON) and the School of Health Professions (SHP).