Chao-Hui Sylvia Huang

• PhD, MA, MEd
• Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Alabama at Birmingham

441 Background: As remote symptom monitoring (RSM) using electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) is increasingly implemented as part of standard-of-care, practices must be prepared to train diverse clinical teams. Little is known about best practices for training multidisciplinary teams to engage effectively with ePROs. Methods: This quality i...

340 Background: Remote symptom monitoring (RSM) by electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) data can elicit actionable symptoms from patients with cancer. However, patients with different cancer diagnoses are likely to have differing symptom profiles and variability in symptom alerts. To understand potential workflow needs, this analysis was con...

345 Background: Use of electronic patient-reported outcome data allows patients to report symptoms in real time. This analysis aims to better understand the trajectory for symptoms reported via Remote Symptom Monitoring (RSM) by patients receiving gastrointestinal (GI) cancer treatment. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients ini...

379 Background: Within remote symptom monitoring (RSM) programs, nurses may respond to many symptom alerts in a given day. The shift to standard-of-care delivery necessitates adding this responsibility to an already strained nursing workforce. Thus, selecting the right symptoms to alert is critical and requires care to minimize non-actionable alert...

Purpose: Remote symptom monitoring (RSM) using electronic patient-reported outcomes enables patients with cancer to communicate symptoms between in-person visits. A better understanding of key RSM implementation outcomes is crucial to optimize efficiency and guide implementation efforts. This analysis evaluated the association between the severity...

These NCCN Guidelines for Distress Management discuss the identification and treatment of psychosocial problems in patients with cancer. All patients experience some level of distress associated with a cancer diagnosis and the effects of the disease and its treatment regardless of the stage of disease. Clinically significant levels of distress occu...

Background Symptoms in patients with advanced cancer are often inadequately captured during encounters with the healthcare team. Emerging evidence demonstrates that weekly electronic home-based patient-reported symptom monitoring with automated alerts to clinicians reduces healthcare utilization, improves health-related quality of life, and lengthe...

Purpose: Despite evidence of clinical benefits, widespread implementation of remote symptom monitoring has been limited. We describe a process of adapting a remote symptom monitoring intervention developed in a research setting to a real-world clinical setting at two cancer centers. Methods: This formative evaluation assessed core components and...

341 Background: Remote symptom monitoring (RSM) using electronic patient reported outcomes (ePROs) allow for patients with cancer to communicate symptoms to their clinical team between clinic visits. Prior randomized control trials of RSM focused on advanced cancer, and less data are available for patient with early stage cancers. The University of...

421 Background: For successful remote symptom monitoring using patient-reported outcomes, nurses should respond to alerts in a timely fashion. Where clinical trials utilized research staff for alert management, the shift to standard-of-care delivery necessitates that this responsibility be added as a task to an already strained nursing workforce. L...

268 Background: Remote symptom monitoring (RSM) using patient-reported outcomes has been shown to reduce symptom burden and hospitalizations in clinical trials. However, little is known about how willing patients are to participate in remote symptom monitoring in real-world settings, particularly for vulnerable patient populations. This study aims...

270 Background: Patients now have the ability to utilize electronic patient reported outcomes (ePROs) for remote symptom monitoring (RSM). This analysis seeks to better understand trajectory of reported symptoms during treatment for patients with gynecologic cancer participating in RSM. Methods: We approached patients with gynecological cancer init...

351 Background: One key challenge of practice transformation activities, such as remote symptom monitoring (RSM) using electronic patient reported outcomes (ePROs), is identification of patients starting treatment. In real-world settings, reliance on referrals is likely to miss patients. We describe the difficulties encountered in patient identific...

272 Background: Despite evidence of clinical benefits, widespread implementation of remote symptom monitoring has been limited. We describe a process of adapting a remote symptom monitoring intervention developed in a research setting to a real-world clinical setting at two cancer centers. Methods: This formative evaluation assessed core components...

Background Given the high risk of COVID-19 mortality, patients with cancer may be vulnerable to fear of COVID-19, adverse psychological outcomes, and health care delays. Methods This longitudinal study surveyed the pandemic's impact on patients with cancer (N= 1529) receiving Patient Advocate Foundation services during early and later pandemic. Ge...

260 Background: Oncology Care Model (OCM) requires cancer programs to provide depression screening during each care episode to meet the quality measure benchmark of 85% screening rate. This quality improvement (QI) project aims to assess 1) key strategies to integrate system-wide depression screening into routine cancer care, and 2) early outcomes...

152 Background: Given the high risk of COVID-19 mortality, patients with cancer are not only vulnerable to physical consequences of COVID-19 infection, but also to adverse psychological outcomes, including fear of COVID-19. Without intervention, psychological distress in patients with cancer can lead to worsening symptoms, poor quality of life, and...

98 Background: Patients with cancer are at risk for severe COVID-19 and may be vulnerable to health care delays. Delays or interruptions in care may lead to adverse cancer outcomes. Little is known about the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and disruptions in cancer care delivery. Methods: This longitudinal survey was distributed to individual...

Heathcare Workers (HCWs) recognize their responsibility to support the bereaved loved ones of our patients, but we also must attend to our own professional and personal grief in the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 grief is occurring in the setting of incomplete grief, disenfranchised grief, fractured US governmental leadership, and evidence of great mi...

Background: Depression is common in the oncology patient population. Little data exist on the impact of depression on health care utilization. Objectives: We evaluated the prevalence of depression and the relationship between depression and health care utilization in patients with cancer. Design: This cross-sectional study utilized patient-report...

Background: Nearly 3 million U.S. family caregivers support someone with cancer. However, oncology clinic-based service lines that proactively screen, assess, and support cancer caregivers are nearly nonexistent. Objective: To examine first-year experiences of a nurse-led clinic-based telehealth support service (FamilyStrong) for family caregivers...

Background: Patients newly-diagnosed with advanced cancer often rely on family caregivers to provide daily support to manage healthcare needs and maintain quality of life. Early telehealth palliative care has been shown to effectively provide an extra layer of support to family caregivers, however there has been little work with underserved popula...

Distress is defined in the NCCN Guidelines for Distress Management as a multifactorial, unpleasant experience of a psychologic (ie, cognitive, behavioral, emotional), social, spiritual, and/or physical nature that may interfere with the ability to cope effectively with cancer, its physical symptoms, and its treatment. Early evaluation and screening...

243 Background: The Oncology Care Model (OCM) has set several initiatives to improve payment and care delivery in the Medicare patient population, including screening for depression in cancer patients. We evaluated the prevalence of depression in OCM patients and the relationship between depression and healthcare utilization. Methods: This cross-se...

Objective: To examine a rural-serving HBPC program's 12-year experience and historical trends to inform future program direction and expansion. Background: There is limited information about longitudinal trends in mature hospital-based palliative care (HBPC) programs serving racially diverse rural populations. Methods: This is a retrospective cro...

Purpose Older adults are at risk for developing metabolic syndrome (MSX). Given the growing rural older adult population and the unknown prevalence rate of MSX in rural communities, the purpose of this paper is to assess the risk factors for MSX among rural elders. Design/methodology/approach Individuals aged 55+ from four West Alabama rural commu...

Context: Respecting Choices is an evidence-based model of facilitating advance care planning (ACP) conversations between health-care professionals and patients. However, the effectiveness of whether lay patient navigators can successfully initiate Respecting Choices ACP conversations is unknown. As part of a large demonstration project (Patient Ca...

189 Background: Geriatric syndromes are multifactorial conditions affecting the elderly that are associated with decreased quality of life and poor outcomes. We sought to quantify the prevalence of geriatric syndromes in a group of navigated cancer patients and identify conditions associated with distress. Methods: Distress assessments were conduct...

Community and academic partners in rural West Alabama collaborated to increase healthcare access among rural mid-life and older adults. This interdisciplinary healthcare team utilized a mobile unit to provide health screenings and behavioral assessments. The establishment of trust and respect early in the partnership provided a foundation for commu...

Context: Advance care planning (ACP) improves alignment between patient preferences for life-sustaining treatment and care received at end of life (EOL). Objectives: To evaluate implementation of lay navigator-led ACP. Methods: A convergent, parallel mixed-methods design was employed to evaluate implementation of navigator-led ACP across 12 ca...

17 Background: National guidelines and most individuals endorse advance care planning (ACP) as essential; however, few individuals engage in such planning. Little is known about the role of lay navigators in supporting ACP. We sought to understand facilitators and barriers of successful implementation of ACP conducted by lay cancer navigators. Meth...

Background: To the authors' knowledge, few studies to date have evaluated the effects of survivorship care planning on the care transition process from specialty cancer care to self-management and primary care, patient experience, or health outcomes. The Patient-owned Survivorship Transition Care for Activated, Empowered survivors (POSTCARE) is a...

Background: Despite growing efforts to facilitate advance care planning (ACP) to decrease health disparities in palliative care, low completion rates of advance directives (AD) have been consistently found among African Americans. Objective: The objective was to examine the feasibility of a multicomponent ACP intervention program that integrates...

8 Background: Appropriate targeting of survivorship care planning interventions to patient need is essential, but little evidence exists to support systematic triaging according to survivor needs. We demonstrated the positive impact of a self-management focused survivorship care planning (SCP) intervention on patient outcomes including wellbeing an...

HIV/AIDS infection and psychiatric diagnoses are closely linked, with an estimated 50 % of HIV-infected individuals diagnosed with co-occurring mental health disorders. Mental health disorders have been shown to be associated with HIV acquisition as well as poor treatment outcomes for those infected with HIV. Therefore, behavioral interventions to...

Background: Survivorship care plans will be mandated for use by 2015. Few studies have focused on the care transition process, and few show an impact on the patient experience or health outcomes. This study examines the effect of a patient-owned survivorship care plan (POSCP) intervention on patient outcomes and care coordination. Based on a concep...

Objectives: This exploratory study examined the context and consequences of custodial grandparenting, along with attitudes and preferences regarding future planning among 22 African-American custodial grandmothers. Method: A mixed-method research design was employed. Based on our integration of two theories regarding future planning and health b...

Background: Research shows many mental health disparities in rural communities. Rural residents are at-risk for depression, suicide, and substance abuse. The West Alabama Mobile Unit project aims to enhance engaged scholarship and establish a community /university partnership in Alabama’s Black Belt region to deliver accessible, innovative, and qua...

Background: Given the lack of consensus on the factor structure of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), as well as the fact that the GDS factor structure appears to vary across diverse cultural and/or language groups, the present meta-analysis examined whether the factor structure of the GDS varies by language. Methods: A total of 26 published...

Purpose of the study: The present study examined the characteristics of health disparities grants funded by National Institute on Aging (NIA) from 2000 to 2010. Objectives were (a) to examine longitudinal trends in health disparities-related grants funded by NIA and (b) to identify moderators of these trends. Design and methods: Our primary data...

Objective: The elderly population is increasing in rural communities yet many rural elders have fewer resources and poorer mental and physical health than their urban counterparts. Rural elders are at a higher risk for developing metabolic syndrome (MSX), a cluster of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and mortality, which has been li...

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine racial/ethnic differences in the factor structure of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The total number of participants (N) in the assessed studies (k) varied according to whether the original study had used either Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA; N = 19,206, k = 13) or...

The present study examined the association between self-rated mental health (SRMH) and diagnoses of psychiatric disorders among Asian American adults. Data were drawn from the National Latino and Asian American Survey (NLAAS, 2002–2003). Bivariate correlations and logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare the association in three subgr...

Given the paucity of research on differences between older adults representing the many Asian-American subcategories, the present study explored physical and mental health status in five subcategories of Asian Americans aged 60 and older: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino. Data were drawn from the 2007 California Health Interview...