Reducing stress and improving quality of life for adult breast cancer patients.

Abstract

e23428 Background: Ellie Fund provides essential non-medical support services to ease daily life stressors for individuals undergoing breast cancer treatment, enabling greater focus on recovery, family, and healing. In 2019, Ellie Fund launched an Outcomes Measurement Program to empirically assess the impact of these services on patients’ physical, emotional, and financial well-being, and overall quality of life (QOL). This study expands upon research previously presented at SABCS by incorporating a larger dataset and deeper demographic analysis (e.g., race, income), examining how these factors correlate with stress reduction following receipt of Ellie Fund services. Long term, this work aims to explore links between supportive services and improved breast cancer outcomes. Methods: Participants selected two services (e.g., groceries, meals, transportation, childcare, integrative therapies). Services were delivered monthly for 3 months for non-metastatic (Stages 0–3) and 6 months for metastatic (Stage 4) patients. Voluntary pre- and post-service surveys included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and 12 additional QOL questions using a 4-point Likert scale. Analysis included patients enrolled from 2019–2025 who completed both surveys. McNemar tests assessed changes in perceived stress (primary outcome) and differences by disease type (secondary outcome). Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests examined associations between stress reduction and race, controlling for income. Results: A total of 1,047 patients completed at least one survey; analyses included matched pre/post responses. Significant reductions were observed in the proportion of patients reporting high perceived stress after services (p < 0.05), with improvements across emotional, physical, financial, and daily life stress domains. Significant QOL gains were reported in six areas: maintaining household order, managing treatment side effects, physical self-care, food access, focus on family, and medication access. Both metastatic and non-metastatic patients experienced significant stress reduction (p < 0.05), with a greater decrease among non-metastatic patients (67% vs. 60%). Among non-White patients, higher income was associated with 3.4 times greater odds of stress reduction compared with lower income (statistically significant), while this association was not significant among White patients. Conclusions: Ellie Fund services are associated with meaningful reductions in stress and improvements in QOL among breast cancer patients. Findings suggest that patients below certain income thresholds may require more intensive or sustained interventions. These results reinforce the value of integrating non-medical supportive care into cancer treatment and highlight its potential role in improving treatment access, stability, and equity. Further research is needed to clarify mechanisms driving QOL improvements and long-term outcomes.