Devine Research Program

The Devine Research Program focuses on the psychosocial aspects of pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivorship, including patient and family adaptation to illness, adherence to medical recommendations and survivorship care, healthcare transitions, and health promotion for survivors. Much of our work focuses on the unique needs of adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients and survivors who must navigate the challenges of cancer care in the midst of normative developmental transitions (such as graduating high school, pursuing higher education, establishing financial independence, and forming strong peer and intimate relationships).

Recent projects include a randomized controlled trial of Bright IDEAS-Young Adults, a problem-solving skills training targeted to the unique and extensive needs of young adult patients; Managing Your Health, an online self-management + peer mentoring intervention to improve transition readiness among young adult survivors of childhood cancer preparing to independently manage their healthcare; and FitSurvivor, a group-based + mobile app intervention to improve physical activity for AYA cancer survivors.

Project Highlight:

Bright IDEAS-Young Adults

The goal of this project is to evaluate the efficacy of Bright IDEAS-Young Adults, a problem-solving skills training intervention targeted to the unique and extensive needs of young adult patients.

This lab is supported by the following:

• NIH/NCI R37CA240807 (converted to R37 MERIT from R01; PI: Devine), “Bright IDEAS-Young Adults: Problem-Solving Skills Training to Reduce Distress among Young Adults with Cancer,” 4/15/20-3/31/25
• NIH/NHLBI F30HL142311 (PI: Viola), “The Feasibility of a Medical Student Mentoring Program to Improve Transition of Care Among Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease,” 9/1/18-8/31/22
• NIH/NCI R21CA222936 (PI: Devine), “Improving Transition Readiness in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Survivors of Childhood Cancer,” 6/1/18-5/31/21 (NCE)
• NIH/NCI K07CA174728 (PI: Devine), “A Novel Mobile Health Fitness Program for AYA Childhood Cancer Survivors,” 2/14/14-1/31/19
• Rutgers Cancer Institute Cancer Control and Prevention Pilot Award (PI: Devine), “Peer Mentoring to Promote Follow-Up Care Self-Management for AYA Childhood Cancer Survivors,” 10/1/15-4/30/18