Adaptation of Ca-HELP Intervention in Rural Geriatric Cancer Patient Population

Summary

The Cancer Health Empowerment for Living without Pain (Ca-HELP) is an evidence-based communication tool that empowers and engages patients to communicate effectively with their physicians about pain. The Ca-HELP intervention is rooted in social-cognitive theory which posits that behavior change and maintenance depends largely on individuals' ability and self-efficacy to execute a specific behavior. Ca-HELP coaches patients to ask questions, make requests, and signal distress to their physicians in order to achieve improved pain control. Previous research indicates significant improvement among cancer patients in their self-efficacy to communicate about their pain to their oncologists and reductions in pain misconceptions and pain-related impairment. Although a promising tool among geriatric cancer patients, Ca-HELP is not currently designed for optimal dissemination in rural settings.

Conditions

• Pain

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Adapted Ca-HELP for Geriatric Cancer Patients

Intervention group: This intervention will be informed by social-cognitive theory10-13 and modeled after the tailored education and coaching intervention (TEC) used for Ca-HELP previously and consists of six components: (1) Assessment of current knowledge, attitudes, and preferences; (2) clarification and correction of misconceptions about cancer pain control; (3) teaching of relevant concepts (education about cancer pain control); (4) planning (identifying goals of care, creating achievable goals of care, and creating strategies to communicate goals of care to providers and family members); (5) rehearsal of communication strategies using role play exercises; and (6) portrayal of learned skills (patient applies skills in visit with healthcare provider).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Maury Regional Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Brown University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Weill Medical College of Cornell University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Cary Reid, MD, PhD · Weill Medical College of Cornell University

• Megan Shen, PhD · Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-05-01

Primary Completion

2022-05-05

Completion

2022-05-05

Countries

• United States

Study Locations