Centralised services for clinical trials groups

The following services and resources have been developed by Cancer Australia to support the effective functioning of the Multi-site Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups.

National Secretariat Services

In June 2009, Cancer Australia established the National Secretariat Services to provide secretariat and other liaison and support services to all Multi-site Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups supported by Cancer Australia. The purpose of establishing these services is to centralize the provision of high quality secretariat services.

These services are currently being provided by Secretariat Australia. Multi-site Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups eligible to use the services provided by the National Secretariat Services should contact Alison Gregory at cogs@secretariat.com.au.

Cancer Australia Chair in Quality of Life

Professor Madeleine King is the first Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life.  The Chair is based at the University of Sydney, within the national Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group, which has created a Quality of Life Office. The Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life provides expert advice and support to the Multi-site, Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups funded under the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program, to initiate and incorporate quality of life studies into cancer clinical trials. A diagnosis of cancer and its treatment has a considerable impact on the quality of life of individuals, their families and carers.

Quality of life encompasses physical and psychological functioning, and supporting research and clinical trials in this area helps identify effective interventions which can improve cancer outcomes.

Quality of Life resources

Cancer Australia has funded the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group to develop a number of resources to support researchers in assessing health-related quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes in cancer. The Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group is especially keen to hear from researchers on how the resources might be improved, or added to, to better meet researchers’ needs. Click on the following link to view the Quality of Life resources.

The resources include:

• Frequently Asked Questions, such as:

How do I choose which health-related quality of life questionnaire to use in my study?
How do I assess symptoms / psychological distress /supportive care needs in people with cancer?
The EORTC QLQ and FACIT measurement suites compared
Health-related quality of life issues and disease-specific questionnaires for a number of cancer types

• Links to health-related quality of life-related websites (including questionnaire websites and databases);
• Further reading list (including links to full-text articles where these are available online).

Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit

The University of Sydney, through the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre and the Centre for Biostatistics and Clinical Trials, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre currently provides the services of the Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit.  The Unit provides expert advice, monitoring, support and trial development services up to the completion of trial piloting and feasibility to the three newly established Multi-site, Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials groups funded under the Support for Clinical Trials program. 

The Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit’s services assist the new national groups to build their capacity to design and conduct quality cancer clinical trials.