Testing a Population-Based Outreach Intervention for Ovarian Cancer Survivors to Encourage their Close Relatives to Consider Genetic Counseling

Q: What communication goal does the intervention target for ovarian cancer survivors’ relatives?

It aims to encourage close relatives to consider genetic counseling by improving awareness of inherited cancer risk.

Q: How was the randomized trial designed and what were the two arms?

The trial used two arms: Your Family Connects (YFC) and standard Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) contact, with 1,938 eligible survivors assigned to either group.

Q: What factors were associated with lower likelihood that the survivor accessed the study website?

Across arms, minority race, longer time since diagnosis, and older age were significantly associated with decreased website access.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Asher

Background: Most relatives of women with ovarian cancer are unaware of increased cancer risk and eligibility for genetic counseling. State cancer registries provide a communication platform about inherited risk. Methods: A two-arm randomized trial tested Your Family Connects (YFC) versus standard Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) contact. Among 1,938 eligible survivors, web-logins by survivors and close relatives were assessed by study arm. Results: Survivor reach was higher with Standard Care than YFC. Relative reach remained limited in YFC, with minimal participation under Standard Care. Minority race, longer time since diagnosis, and older age reduced website access. Conclusions: YFC engaged at-risk relatives more effectively, but overall survivor engagement was lower. Further refinement should address factors linked to reduced reach.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Impact

Introduction

Testing a Population-Based Outreach Intervention for Ovarian Cancer Survivors to Encourage their Close Relatives to Consider Genetic Counseling Yue Guan1, Colleen M. McBride1, Jingsong Zhao1, Rebecca D. Pentz2, Cam Escoffery1, Yuan Liu3, Yichun Cao3, Weihua An4, James A. Shepperd5, and Kevin C. Ward6 | | | A | | B | S | | T | R | | A | | C | T | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | Background: Most relatives of women with ovarian cancer are unaware of their increased risk for cancer and their eligibility for genetic counseling. State cancer registries offer a platform to communicate about inherited risk to this population.
Methods: We conducted a two-arm randomized trial to test a theory-based communication intervention—Your Family Connects (YFC)—compared to the standard Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) contact. A total of 1,938 eligible ovarian cancer survivors were randomly assigned to either the YFC arm (n ¼ 969) or the Standard Care arm (n ¼ 969) . We assessed the number of ovarian cancer survivors and their close relatives who logged on to the study website by arm.
Results: Survivor reach was significantly higher in the Standard Care arm than YFC (20.8% vs. 15.2%, respectively; P <
􀀶 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.001) . However, reach to relatives was limited to listed relatives in the YFC arm (n ¼ 20, 13.2%), with little participation from those in the Standard Care arm (n ¼ 1, 0.4%) . Pooling across arms, minority race, longer time since diagnosis, and older age were all significantly associated with a decreased likelihood that the survivor accessed the website.
Conclusions: The YFC intervention showed lower effectiveness for engaging survivors but was more effective than Standard Care in engaging at-risk relatives. Other factors (e.g., time since diagnosis) associated with lower reach must be considered in refining future outreach approaches.
Impact: Partnering with a state cancer registry to foster family communication about inherited cancer risk is feasible but the possibility for broad population reach warrants further testing. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Introduction Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the U.S. Researchers attribute 15% to 20% of epithelial ovarian cancers to inherited mutations in cancer predisposing genes that can influence risk among first-and second-degree relatives (1) . Currently, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prohibits healthcare providers’ from reaching out directly to at-risk relatives about their potential hereditary risk. Thus, the duty to communicate hereditary risk to relatives has fallen to the patient, most often to patients identified to carry a pathogenic variant (i.e., proband) . The current standard of care is to advise the 1Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. 2Department o

FAQs

What communication goal does the intervention target for ovarian cancer survivors’ relatives?

It aims to encourage close relatives to consider genetic counseling by improving awareness of inherited cancer risk.

How was the randomized trial designed and what were the two arms?

The trial used two arms: Your Family Connects (YFC) and standard Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) contact, with 1,938 eligible survivors assigned to either group.

What factors were associated with lower likelihood that the survivor accessed the study website?

Across arms, minority race, longer time since diagnosis, and older age were significantly associated with decreased website access.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Asher