For patients with head and neck cancer, delays starting adjuvant radiation therapy are common, disproportionately burden racial minorities, and contribute to poor survival and racial disparities in mortality. However, effective therapies to improve the delivery of timely, equitable, guideline-adherent adjuvant radiation therapy are lacking. We have developed a navigation-based multilevel intervention to enhance care coordination, communication, and key cancer care delivery processes that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby improving survival, decreasing racial disparities in outcomes, and developing new standards of clinical care.

Because head and neck cancer arises in cosmetically and functionally critical areas, head and neck cancer survivors suffer high rates of body image-related distress. Body image-related distress is a source of significant morbidity, contributing to stigmatization, social isolation, and worse quality of life. Unfortunately, effective therapies exist to manage body image-related distress among head and neck cancer survivors are lacking. We have developed a novel, scalable, tele-cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for head and neck cancer survivors with body image disturbance that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby minimizing psychosocial morbidity, improving quality of life, and developing new standards of clinical care.

This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer. The purpose of this study is to examine whether HN-STAR can help healthcare providers care for survivors of head and neck cancer.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a new patient navigation intervention can decrease delays starting radiation therapy after surgery for white and African-American head and neck cancer patients. Patients who have surgery and radiation for certain types of head and neck cancer are eligible for this study.