An eHealth Psychosocial Intervention for Caregivers of Children With Cancer

Summary

The psychosocial needs of children with cancer and their families are well-documented in the literature, including the increased risk of parental posttraumatic stress, parental anxiety, and decreased family functioning. There is a critical need to provide evidence-based psychosocial care to parents of children with cancer, although many challenges exist with regard to in-person intervention delivery. eHealth interventions represent an exciting potential opportunity to address many of the barriers to in-person intervention delivery in this population, but are not yet widely utilized in pediatric psychosocial cancer care. eSCCIP is an innovative eHealth intervention for parents of children with cancer, delivered through a combination of self-guided interactive online content and telehealth follow-up with a therapist. eSCCIP aims to decrease symptoms of anxiety, distress, and posttraumatic stress while improving family functioning by delivering evidence-based therapeutic content through a flexible, easily accessible intervention tool. The four self-guided online modules feature a mix of didactic video content, novel multifamily video discussion groups featuring parents of children with cancer, and hands-on interactive activities. Preliminary Think Aloud testing has been completed and led to several rounds of design and functionality improvements. The objective of the proposed study is to establish feasibility and acceptability of eSCCIP in a diverse group of parents of children with cancer. A secondary, exploratory goal is to evaluate preliminary intervention effectiveness for key psychosocial outcomes. Specific Aim 1 is to identify strategies for increasing participant engagement and retention by conducting focus groups with a diverse sample of parents of children with cancer prior to pilot testing. Specific Aim 2 is to demonstrate the feasibility of eSCCIP through pilot testing with a diverse sample of parents of children with cancer. Specific Aim 3 is to evaluate preliminary effectiveness of eSCCIP through pilot testing with parents of children with cancer. The proposed study is an important first step in meeting a critical need for families of children with cancer and collecting data to power a randomized clinical trial to establish clinical efficacy.

Conditions

• Pediatric Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

eSCCIP

The Electronic Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program (eSCCIP) is an innovative eHealth intervention that combines cognitive behavioral and family systems therapy to provide parents and caregivers of children with cancer (PCCC) with evidence-based coping skills and psychosocial support focused on the family unit. eSCCIP has three 30-minute, self-directed, online modules which feature a unique mix of original video content and interactive activities, supplemented by three telehealth follow-up sessions. eSCCIP aims to reduce acute distress and symptoms of post-traumatic stress while increasing positive coping self-appraisal and use of cognitive coping skills.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Nemours Children's Clinic

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kimberly Canter, PhD · Nemours Children's Health

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-01

Primary Completion

2022-01-31

Completion

2022-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations