Future Participants

Are you considering participating in the CASCADE study?

About the study

• The CASCADE study aims to increase our knowledge about how genetic services (counseling and testing) in Switzerland can help families manage hereditary cancer risk.
• Detailed information about the study procedures can be found here.

Who can participate?

• Women and men with a known genetic variant connected to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer or «Lynch syndrome».
• Individuals older than 18 years, who reside in Switzerland and have at least one living blood relative.

Concrete procedure for participation in the study

If you are interested to learn more about the study, we will send you detailed information and a Consent Form. If you wish to give your address in the contact form, we can send you the Consent Form by post (including the return envelope). Otherwise, we can also send you the documents by email.

Participation to the CASCADE cohort is divided into several steps:

First step:
You will receive a questionnaire, which can be filled out either online or in paper form. This is mandatory for taking part in the study.

Second step:
In both the Consent Form and the questionnaire, you can indicate whether you would like to invite your relatives to the study. However, this is not mandatory for your participation to the study. Communication with your relatives will be only from you, not from the research team.

Third step:
In the Consent Form, you can also indicate whether you would like to participate in an interview or group discussion about various topics, including decisions to manage cancer risk. We will inform you about the topic of the discussion beforehand, so that you can decide whether you are interested in the topic or not.

Fourth step:
We will ask your opinion about a new website we are creating for families with hereditary cancer risk. We want to know if you like the information we present, if it is presented in a clear way, and if you like the colors and the layout of the website. This is not a condition for participation in the CASCADE Cohort.

We would be very pleased with your participation in the study. The information that you share is very important and will help us improve the services we provide to families with hereditary cancer risk.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone (061 207 59 85) or e-mail (swisscascade-nursing@unibas.ch).