PONE-D-20-08318

Experiences of a web-based psycho-educational intervention targeting sexual dysfunction and fertility distress in young adults with cancer - a self-determination theory perspective.

PLOS ONE

Dear Mrs Micaux Obol,

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

Reviewer #3: N/A

Reviewer #4: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Additional comments are as follows:

Q1 How did you measure the level of psychological situation like; loneliness and normalizing problems your patients? And when should be the specialist stop the program?

Q2 There are physiological different between women and men for sexual health after treatment, I think it is very important add some sentences about effect of treatment on sexual health in men and woman. And How treatment (Radiation, chemotherapy Therapy) Can Affect the Sex Life?

Q4 Line 103 P5: authors state that "Practical obstacles to using the program were mainly related to technical difficulties ..." do you have suggestions for solution these problems?

Q3 Line 173 P8: authors state that "On the other hand, some participants did not feel their competence …" how many patients?

Note: As commented above, overall the study is nice and has big potential.

Reviewer #2: The subject is suitable for the growing use of internet for medical and healthcare, especially considering the current crisis internationally.

Any additional research info finding support for cancer are much needed.

Reviewer #3: Overall is an interesting study, but I have the following concerns and comments:

- Introduction is clear and well defined as well as the objectives.

- The methods section could be improved with the adoption of a research protocol. In this case the COREQ is indicated, despite the fact that the manuscript contains almost every aspect covered by the protocol. Even though, such adoption is recommended for compliance purposes.

- The data presented in the “Context” section could be improved with further data about the participants, especially with the specific information instead of “some reported”, or “About half”, or “A few”. Such precision is relevant since the discussion also relies on these aspects. In other words, the authors mention characteristics they want and expect about the subjects, but they do not exactly present the characteristics of those who participated.

- Discussion is broad and goes to the point.

- References are relevant and up to date.

Reviewer #4: Overall, the study presents good points about cancer survivors’ sexual and reproductive health.

Although the self-determination theory perspective and deductive approach, according to three predetermined themes, can lead to the loss of some important data and concerns of target population.

However, despite the authors substantial explanations in study limitations, there is still a big question about gender proportion in the main RCT.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Mohamed Hadi Mohamed Abdelhamid

Reviewer #2: Yes: Dr Lily Abedipour MD

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: Yes: Seyed Ali Azin

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Experiences of a web-based psycho-educational intervention targeting sexual dysfunction and fertility distress in young adults with cancer - a self-determination theory perspective.

PONE-D-20-08318R1

Dear Dr. Micaux Obol,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Elena Ambrosino

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: I Don't Know

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: No comment, the authors have adequately addressed my comments raised in a previous round of review and I feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication.

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Mohamed Hadi Mohamed Abdelhamid

Reviewer #3: Yes: Bianca Bianco