About Finding My Way

About The Program

Finding My Way is an online self-help coping program that offers information, suggestions, and support for women and men who have recently been diagnosed with a cancer being treated with the aim of cure.

The program was developed as part of a clinical trial for anyone who was currently going through cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), or had been diagnosed in the past 6 months. We have now made Finding My Way publicly available, so that anyone with cancer is welcome to use it; however, it may be most helpful to you if you have been recently diagnosed with early stage cancer.

This program offers 6 modules of information and interactive features (worksheets, online activities, quizzes, relaxation / meditation, and a personal note-taking feature), relevant to your cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Please note: because this program is designed as self-help, it is not aimed at people experiencing crisis situations, and we do not have the ability to respond to concerns out of business hours. If you are experiencing a crisis, we recommend contacting Lifeline (ph: 13 11 14).

Website & Program Development

The program is based on a print self-help workbook developed and evaluated as part of A/Prof Lisa Beatty’s PhD research in 2007-2008. This was then developed into an online version of this program from 2009-2012. The authors of the original Finding My Way programme are Dr Lisa Beatty, Professor Bogda Koczwara, and Professor Tracey Wade.

In 2012 Dr Beatty and Professor Koczwara, along with a team of other Australian researchers, received a 4-year National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant to update the Finding My way website and test its helpfulness in a national study, which concluded in 2016.

Since 2017, the Finding My Way program has been publicly available to the Australian cancer community, with generous website hosting support from the Flinders Foundation (2017-2020) and web-maintenance support from Cancer Council SA (2017-2020). Over this time, the research team continued to evaluate the program to see how people used and benefitted from the program once it was more broadly available.

In 2019 Prof Nick Hulbert-Williams, of Edge Hill University in the UK, was awarded a project grant from North West Cancer Research to lead a programme of work which would adapt the Australian version of the programme for use in the UK. The Finding My Way UK project has been a collaborative effort between a number of UK based researchers and both A/Prof Beatty and Prof Koczwara in Australia.

As you can see, in total this online program has over 15 years of research support!

Program Authors

Associate Professor Lisa Beatty, PhD (Clin Psych) is a Cancer Council SA Postdoctoral Fellow and a Clinical Psychologist in the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer at Flinders University. Her areas of research focuses on promoting adjustment to cancer, and developing accessible psychological interventions for people affected by cancer.

Prof. Tracey Wade, MClin Psych, PhD, has worked in a number of settings as a clinical psychologist, including general hospitals. She is currently a Professor in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, at Flinders University. Her clinical and research interests are in eating disorders and cancer adjustment.

Prof. Bogda Koczwara, BMBS FRACP, MBioethics, is a medical oncologist with an interest in breast cancer management and is the Head of the Survivorship program at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer at Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. Her main interests focus on management of breast cancer, supportive care, patient communication and decision-making.

Prof. Nick Hulbert-Williams, PhD CPsychol, is a Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University and a Coaching Psychologist. His research interests include psychosocial oncology and contextual behavioural science.

Consumers / Health Professionals: The authors developed the content in collaboration with many cancer survivors through a series of discussion groups, and with other cancer health professionals, including nurses, cancer care coordinators, pharmacists, and radiotherapists.

Website Developers

The IUGO team have been pleased to work with the Finding My Way team to help support cancer patients online. IUGO is a cross-platform digital media company with services across mobile, touch, web, and motion

https://www.iugo.com.au

Ongoing Evaluation

Finding My Way continues to be publicly available with thanks to Flinders University funding. As part of this, the researchers will continue to monitor and evaluate the program (how people use the program). However, it is important to know that the identity of all individuals who participate is kept confidential. If you are interested in hearing the broader evaluation results of the study, you are welcome to contact us.

What participating involves

When you register, you will be asked to:

  1. Complete an online survey at the time of registering for the program (this takes about 10 minutes);
  2. Complete the 6-module program;
  3. Complete a booster module one-month after the main program has ended.

How we evaluate the program

Our evaluation of the program (how people use and may benefit from the program) has been published and discussed / presented at various national and international conferences. It is important to know that the identity of all individuals who participated is kept confidential.

If you are interested in hearing the broader evaluation results of the study, please see the below publications;

  • Beatty, L., Kemp, E., Coll, J. R., Turner, J., Butow, P., Milne, D., … & Koczwara, B. (2019). Finding My Way: results of a multicentre RCT evaluating a web-based self-guided psychosocial intervention for newly diagnosed cancer survivors. Supportive Care in Cancer, 27, 2533-2544.
  • Beatty, L., Kemp, E., Turner, J., Butow, P., Milne, D., Yates, P., … & Koczwara, B. (2021). Moderators of intervention efficacy for Finding My Way: A web-based psychosocial intervention for cancer-related distress. Supportive Care in Cancer, 29(12), 7669-7678.
  • Beatty, L., Kemp, E., Binnion, C., Turner, J., Milne, D., Butow, P., … & Koczwara, B. (2017). Uptake and adherence to an online intervention for cancer-related distress: older age is not a barrier to adherence but may be a barrier to uptake. Supportive Care in Cancer, 25, 1905-1914.
  • Nathan, M., Beatty, L., Coborn, J., Wiley, A., Srivastava, A., Russell, J., & Joffe, H. (2023). Targeting psychological and menopausal factors linked to non-adherence to anti-estrogen therapy in women with early-stage hormone-receptor positive breast cancer: A web-based feasibility study of Finding My Way. Psycho-oncology, 32(9), 1461-1465.
  • Hulbert-Williams NJ, Leslie M, Hulbert-Williams L, Koczwara B, Watson EK, Hall PS, Ashley L, Coulson NS, Jackson R, Millington S, The Finding My Way UK Trial Steering Group, Beatty L
    The Finding My Way UK Clinical Trial: Adaptation Report and Protocol for a Replication Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial of a Web-Based Psychological Program to Support Cancer Survivors. JMIR Res Protoc 2021;10(9):e31976. doi: 10.2196/31976

The results have been presented at the following national and international conferences;

  • Beatty L, Kemp E, Hulbert-Williams N, & Koczwara B. Scaling Up and Out with Finding My Way! Clinical Oncology Society of Australia’s 50th Annual Scientific Meeting. Melbourne, Australia, November 3-5, 2023.
  • Beatty L, Koczwara B, Hulbert-Williams N. Stop reinventing the wheel! Adapting evidence-based digital interventions to different settings & populations: lessons from the Finding My Way program of research. Symposium chair/abstract. International Psycho-Oncology Society 24th World Congress. Milan, Italy. August 31-Sept 3rd 2023
  • Hulbert-Williams N, Leslie M, Hulbert-Williams L, Piovesan A, Cartwright T, Pendrous R, Millington S, Koczwara B, Hall P, Jackson R, Coulson N, Watson E, Ashley L, The FMW-UK Steering Group, Beatty L. Findings from a replication randomised controlled trial of Finding My Way in the UK healthcare setting. International Psycho-Oncology Society 24th World Congress. Milan, Italy. August 31-Sept 3rd 2023.
  •  Beatty L. Survivorship in Advanced Breast Cancer – Finding My Way. Breast Cancer Trials 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting. Melbourne, Australia, July 27-29th 2022.
  • Beatty L, Kemp E, Koczwara B. Finding My Way in the real world: how do outcomes of a digital psycho-oncology program compare from clinical trial to implementation? Clinical Oncology Society of Australia’s 48th Annual Scientific Meeting, virtual (due to COVID-19), Nov 16-18 2021. (Best of the Best Oral Presentation winner)*.
  • Beatty L, Kemp E, Koczwara B. Finding My Way in the real world: how do outcomes of a digital psycho-oncology program compare from clinical trial to implementation?. Within Symposium: Shepherd H, Shaw J, Beatty L, & Smith B. Implementing and integrating online therapy in routine practice: examples and recommendations for optimal models of care. International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology. Tokyo, 27-29 May 2021 (virtual due to COVID-19).
  •  Beatty L. Web-based psychological interventions for cancer-related distress. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, 15, 79. Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting, Adelaide, Australia, Nov 13-15 2019.
  • Beatty L. (2019). Finding My Way: Navigating cancer-related distress online. Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 40th National Conference, October 24-26. Adelaide.
  • Beatty, L., Kemp, E., & Koczwara, B. (2017). From Clinical Trial to Open Access: the evolution and implementation of Finding My Way into a community cancer resource. Clinical Oncology Society of Australia’s 44th Annual Scientific Meeting. November 13-15, Sydney, Australia. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, 13:S208.
  • Beatty, L. (2016). Symposium Chair and presenter. Symposium: Online psychological interventions for cancer-related distress. Presentation: who uses, and how do they benefit from, online psychotherapuetic interventions for cancer-related distress? An outcomes analysis of Finding My Way. International Congress of Behavioral Medicine. December 7-10, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Beatty L. (2016). Finding My Way: A Web-Based Psychosocial Intervention for Cancer Related Distress – An Outcomes Analysis Of A Multicentre RCT. Clinical Oncology Society of Australia’s 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting. November 15-17, Gold Coast, Australia.
  • Beatty L., Kemp E., Wade T., Yip D., Katris P., Turner J., Yates P., Wootten A., Lambert S., Butow P., Koczwara B. (2015, August). Finding My Way: uptake and satisfaction with an Internet self-help program for cancer-related distress. International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) 2015 World Congress of Psycho-Oncology. July 28-Aug 1, Washington DC, USA.
  • Binnion C., Kemp E., & Koczwara B, Beatty L. (2015, February). ‘Finding My Way: An interim analysis of predictors of adherence to an internet self-help program for cancer-related distress. Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer 2015 Survivorship Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
  • Beatty L., Kemp E., Wade T., Katris P., Wootten A., Yip D., Lambert S., Turner J., Yates P., Butow P., & Koczwara B. (2014, November). Finding My Way: preliminary findings from a RCT evaluating an internet self-help program for cancer-related distress. Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, 41st Annual Scientific Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

Privacy and Security

All personal details you supply are kept private and confidential. No identifying information will be released to anyone outside of the research team. For further information about our Privacy Policy, please see our ‘Terms of Use’ link, where the full privacy policy is available to view.

We have made every effort to ensure the that all data that is obtained through this program is secured and protected. Specific details about how data is secured can be found in the ‘Terms of Use’ section of the website.

Questions?

If you have further questions or queries, or are experiencing technical difficulties, you are welcome to contact us at: findingmyway@flinders.edu.au.

Please note, further information about what is involved should you decide to sign up is provided during program registration.