Personalized Health Self-Management Training for Colorectal Cancer Survivors

Along with patient education and internalization of self-determination, the RISE intervention focuses on replacing unhealthy habits with health-promoting habits. Ongoing practice and guidance in generating and enacting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) health goals is the centerpiece of the RISE intervention. Working one-on-one with the PI, participants will set goals and develop practical strategies to establish sustainable healthy behavior (HB) change. Motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and patient education will accompany intensive collaborative problem-solving and creation of accountability structures to create lasting change. The 6-week intervention includes 2 in-person visits and 4 videoconference sessions.

Participants randomized to the control condition will receive 6 standardized sessions from one of the occupational therapy (OT) interveners, matched to the PSMT for setting. At these visits, participants will be presented with slides containing pre-specified, standardized didactic content about the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) healthy behavior recommendations (HBRs). We hypothesize that these visits will control for the effect of research participation and increased knowledge about HBRs, and that simply providing standardized didactic content as an intervention modality without any personalization will have negligible effects on participants' healthy behaviors (HBs), self-efficacy, or quality of life. Content will follow the WCRF/AICR HBRs. Weeks 1-2 will focus on physical activity; weeks 3-4 will focus on diet and alcohol, and weeks 5-6 will focus on weight management and generalized strategies for HB change.