Up to two-thirds of women with advanced breast cancer experience significant symptom burden (e.g., distress, pain, fatigue), yet these symptoms are not adequately addressed. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocols designed to teach patients strategies to improve their symptom management may be helpful in alleviating multiple symptoms. The efficacy of CBT protocols for reducing distinct symptoms in early-stage breast cancer has been shown in Western countries; however, the role of CBT protocols for multiple symptoms in late-stage cancer is less clear. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and acceptability and obtain estimates of efficacy of a novel, cross-cultural multi-symptom (i.e., anxiety and depression, pain, fatigue) CBT protocol in advanced breast cancer patients. A randomized controlled design will compare patients receiving the CBT protocol to a waitlist control condition in both Singapore and United States patients. The goal of this collaborative effort is to determine the scalability of the cross- cultural intervention. This IRB protocol only represents the Duke US portion of the project; Duke-NUS will obtain their own IRB approvals.
