A Study Comparing Two Types of Supportive Interventions for Caregivers of Patients With Cancer

Summary

The purpose of this study is to compare two types of therapy for caregivers of cancer patients: Emotion Regulation Therapy for Cancer Caregivers (ERT-C) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-C). The researchers want to see if ERT-C is better than, the same as, or worse than traditional CBT-C at improving caregiver distress. The researchers will look at how the two types of therapy affect caregivers' anxiety, depression, and quality of life. The researchers will also see how ERT-C and CBT-C affect hormone and stress levels in caregivers' saliva samples.

In addition, this trial will enroll cancer patients in this study to see how their caregivers' participation in ERT-C or CBT may affect the patients' quality of life, stress, and use of healthcare services.

Participants who become bereaved while on study will be given the option to withdraw or remain on study. Assessments for bereaved caregivers will not include the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) or the Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA).

Conditions

• Cancer Patients
• Family Caregivers

Interventions

OTHER

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Cancer Caregivers (CBT-C)

The sessions are outlined as follow: 1. psychoeducation, goal-setting, and describing the rationale for CBT (Session 1); 2. coping effectiveness training (Session 2); 3. identifying unhelpful cognitions and dysfunctional beliefs (Session 3); 4. challenging and restructuring unhelpful cognitions (Session 4); 5. behavioral activation within the limitations of the caregiving context (Session 5); 6. problem-solving (Session 6); 7. communication strategies and assertiveness training (Session 7); 8. consolidating gains, maintenance, and relapse prevention (Session 8).

OTHER

Emotion Regulation Therapy for Cancer Caregivers (ERT-C)

The sessions are outlined as follow: 1. psychoeducation and motivation/dysregulation cue detection within caregiving contexts (Session 1); 2. attention regulation skills training (Sessions 1-2); 3. training in metacognitive skills (Sessions 3-4); 4. exposure to proactive living in the face of risk and loss while applying skills (Sessions 5-7); 5. consolidating gains, taking larger proactive steps, and relapse prevention (Session 8).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Aarhus

  collaborator OTHER

• Columbia University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Michigan

  collaborator OTHER

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Christian Nelson, PhD · Memorial Sloan Kettering 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

2021-02-26

Primary Completion

2025-02-14

Completion

2026-01-08

Countries

• United States

Study Locations