Aims: Helping family/friend carers recognise their needs and navigate emotional support services is an important but under-addressed aspect of cancer care education. In response, our team developed CarersCanACCESS, an online education resource to build carers knowledge of distress, address attitudinal barriers to support seeking, increase awareness of support options, and enhance value-congruent decision-making about seeking support. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the resource.
Methods: Carers completed baseline measures before reviewing the resource and completing follow-up measures (2-weeks post-baseline). Primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability. Implementation potential was assessed using recruitment retention rates, feedback questionnaires, exit interviews (n=14) and user analytics data. Paired-samples t-tests were used to explore signals of change in carers’ mental health knowledge, mental health stigma, willingness and preparedness to seek support.
Results: Of the 36 carers who consented to participate, 30 (83%) completed feedback measures, meeting planned recruitment and retention rates. Overall, 92% of participants agreed (49%) or strongly agreed (43%) with usefulness and usability questionnaires. Almost all said they would recommend the resource to others in their situation (97%), and felt it was easy to use and understand (97%). Carers appreciated how the resource acted as a “navigation centre” that connected them to tailored support while “validating” their experiences and the stresses of caregiving. After reviewing the resource, 87% of carers said they learned something new. This was accompanied by statistically significant improvements in knowledge (p <.001, 95% CI[-4.10, -1.77]) and positive attitudes towards support seeking (p=.018, 95% CI[-1.87, -.27]).
Conclusions: CarersCanACCESS is feasible and acceptable, with observed improvements in mental health knowledge and positive attitudes towards support-seeking. These results are crucial given the barriers health literacy and attitudes play in support-seeking. CarersCanACCESS warrants further evaluation to determine effect on uptake of support services and mental wellbeing of cancer carers.