Results From An Interdisciplinary Palliative Rehabiliation Program For Patients Living With Advanced Cancer.

9525 Background: After treatment, patients with active cancer face a considerable burden from the effects of both the disease and its treatment. Symptom burden has been found to remain consistent until a few weeks before death, when it worsens. The Palliative Rehabilitation Program (PRP) is an interdisciplinary program designed to ameliorate disease effects and to improve the patient’s functioning. A particular concern in Palliative Care is depression, which is known to impair functioning and recovery. Depression is also one of the top-two reasons for referral to the PRP, each year. The present study evaluated changes in functioning, symptoms, and well-being after the program. As well, a pilot longitudinal study of symptoms of depression was conducted, three months following PRP completion. Methods: There were 171 referred patients with advanced cancer who enrolled in the 8-week PRP; 108 completed the program. Measures of physical, nutritional, social, and psychological functioning were evaluated at entry to the program and at completion. At 3-month follow-up, 20 patients returned self-report measures of depression by mail. Results: Participants experienced significant improvements in performance status (p < 0.000), nutrition (p = 0.003), symptom severity (p = 0.021 to 0.000), symptom interference with functioning (p = 0.001 to 0.000), fatigue (p = 0.008 to 0.000), and physiological measures (p = 0.002 to 0.000). Symptoms of depression continued to decrease following PRP completion (linear trend: p=0.002). Updated results will be presented. Conclusions: Patients living with advanced cancers who underwent the PRP experienced significant improvement in functioning across several domains. Improvements in depression scores continued to improve after completion.