Improving Cancer Family Caregivers' Knowledge and Communication About Care Options

Summary

The purpose of this two-year mixed methods study is to develop and test an intervention to improve cancer family caregivers' knowledge of care options (curative, palliative, and hospice care) and goals of care communication as part of a self-management (SM) training program.

The two specific aims of this project are to:

1. Develop a psycho-educational intervention called Managing Cancer Care: A Caregiver's Guide (MCC-CG), for family caregivers of patients with breast cancer to increase knowledge of care options, goals of care communication, and other SM skills.
2. Evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the MCC-CG in a pilot randomized controlled trial compared with an attention-control condition (symptom management education) on knowledge of care options, goals of care communication, and other key SM skills (engagement in SM, management of transitions and uncertainty, increasing self-efficacy, appropriate use of health care resources).

Conditions

• Family Caregivers

Interventions

OTHER

Managing Cancer Care: A Caregiver's Guide

MCC-CG is a set of 7 printed modules including information about caregiver-nominated SM topics, conversation starters to facilitate communication with patients and providers, and links to caregiver resources. The modules are as follows: 1. Becoming a Cancer Caregiver \[role, changes, challenges, adjusting, self-care\] 2. Basics of Cancer Caregiving \[physical, functional, emotional, social, \& spiritual support; treatment timeline worksheet\] 3. Caregiver's Role in Managing Patient Care \[who/what is involved; health care professionals worksheet\] 4. Managing Cancer Symptoms and Side Effects \[common symptoms/side effects; maintaining health; nutrition \& exercise; medication management worksheet\] 5. Care Options: \[information on curative, palliative and hospice care\] 6. Talking About Goals of Care \[information on goals of care conversations\] 7. Managing Transitions \[defining transitions, transition examples, helping yourself and patient to manage transitions; transitions worksheet\]

OTHER

Symptom Management Toolkit

Along with an overview of symptom management, the Toolkit provides concise information on commonly experienced symptoms, including fatigue, alopecia, cognitive dysfunction, nausea and vomiting, and sleep problems, among others. Each chapter uses a question-and-answer format to cover the topics of who is most likely to experience the symptom, when and why the symptom may occur, how the symptom can be managed, and when to call a provider. Drs. Schulman-Green and McCorkle have previously tested the Symptom Toolkit in an attention-control group.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  collaborator OTHER

• Yale University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Dena J Schulman-Green, PhD · Yale School of Nursing

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

110 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-07-31

Primary Completion

2016-11-09

Completion

2017-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations