Trial of Family Focused Grief Therapy in Palliative Care and Bereavement

Summary

The purpose of this study is to learn how well family therapy works if given while a family member is being treated for a serious illness and whether it helps their family to continue meeting for a time after their death. The therapy aims to assist the family communication and support during both palliative care and bereavement. The investigators also want to learn how many family therapy sessions spread out over time are best for helping patients and their families.

Patients are randomly assigned to one of three groups: patients who receive standard palliative care, patients and their families who take part in 6 sessions, and patients and their families who take part in 10 sessions.

Conditions

• Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Family Focused Group Therapy

6 Sessions of Family Focused Group Therapy (FFGT). The FFGT intervention will have assessment, focused therapy, consolidation, and termination phases. The first two sessions are assessment sessions and occur one week apart. There will be two or six focused intervention sessions depending on the predetermined length of therapy. The first focused intervention session is approximately two weeks after the last assessment session. Subsequent focused intervention sessions are expected to follow once every month. Finally, there will be two consolidation/termination sessions, which will occur one time each, approximately two months apart. The six session program is expected to extend over a period of 6 months and the 10 session program over 10 months.

BEHAVIORAL

Family Focused Group Therapy

10 Sessions of Family Focused Group Therapy (FFGT). The FFGT intervention will have assessment, focused therapy, consolidation, and termination phases. The first two sessions are assessment sessions and occur one week apart. There will be two or six focused intervention sessions depending on the predetermined length of therapy. The first focused intervention session is approximately two weeks after the last assessment session. Subsequent focused intervention sessions are expected to follow once every month. Finally, there will be two consolidation/termination sessions, which will occur one time each, approximately two months apart. The six session program is expected to extend over a period of 6 months and the 10 session program over 10 months

BEHAVIORAL

Standard of Care

Standard of Care Families assigned to the Usual Care Condition will receive standard psychosocial care which is based on the following patterns: Social work consultations are routinely provided to the cancer patients, but relatives are only seen during admissions or upon request.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Beth Israel Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Calvary Hospital, Bronx, NY

  collaborator OTHER

• Monash University

  collaborator OTHER

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Talia Zaider, PhD · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2005-11-08

Primary Completion

2026-03-11

Completion

2026-03-11

Countries

• United States

Study Locations