Participants and Setting
Participants were recruited from survivorship clinics at an academic
children’s hospital and an academic cancer center. Inclusion criteria
for participation were as follows: 1) History of cancer diagnosed prior
to age o18; 2) Aged 15-24 years at time of study; 2) Treatment
consisting of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy; 3) Completion of
therapy a minimum of two years prior to study participation; and 4)
English-speaking and reading (due to PROMIS SexFS Brief availability).
Patients who did not have sufficient cognitive functioning to
participate in all study measures, as determined by their clinician,
were excluded. The age range of 15-24 was selected based on the World
Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) definitions for
“youth”.23,24 This age range also near-mirrors
previous studies evaluating barriers to communication in this specific
population.16
Due to confidentiality concerns, a waiver of parental consent was
obtained; thus, eligible patients were enrolled and self-consented,
regardless of age. Recruitment was completed consecutively through
existing clinic visits; to achieve maximum thematic variation across age
and gender (self-identified), we purposefully enrolled a minimum of 10
patients of each gender (self-identified) and a minimum of 10 patients
in each of two age groups (15-19 and 20-24 years). Upon the completion
of the interview, each participant received a $50 gift card.