Building Caregiver Skills Using a Simulation-based Intervention for Care of Head and Neck Cancer

Summary

Patients with head and neck cancer and their caregivers face many challenges. These include learning about cancer and its treatment, coping with symptoms from illness and treatment side effects, making adjustments to usual activities, and managing the emotional effects of having a serious illness. This study tests whether different forms of education and support can help family caregivers feel better prepared. To find out if education about caregiving and different kinds of support are effective, this study wants to compare approaches.One group includes caregivers who will receive an education and support program throughout radiation treatment in addition to usual care by their doctors and nurses. The other group receives an educational booklet about caregiving in addition to usual care by their doctors and nurses. The caregiver also completes surveys about his or her emotions, distress, confidence as a care giver, and quality of life. In addition, the study asks the caregiver questions about his or her age, race, ethnicity, marital status, employment status, education, annual household income, and current living arrangements. This pilot study will only be offered at the Case Medical Center, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Main Campus.

Conditions

• Head and Neck Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

In-person education sessions

The intervention will be delivered by a radiation oncology nurse. Each of the four in-person sessions consists of approximately 30 minutes of educational content/simulation that addresses a specific caregiving topic and any issues or concerns that the caregiver may be experiencing.

BEHAVIORAL

NCI Booklet

Radiation Oncology Nurse will hand participant the NCI booklet

OTHER

Survey

written, qualitative assessments of areas including depression and anxiety, caregiver self-efficacy, care-giver self efficacy for head and neck cancer, health-related quality of life, patient performance status, demographics, and medical history.

OTHER

Interview

A structured series of open-ended questions will be used during a telephone interview with participants at four weeks post radiation treatment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Susan Mazanec, PhD, RN · University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-08-01

Primary Completion

2018-01-12

Completion

2018-01-12

Countries

• United States

Study Locations