Online and Narrative Interventions for Advanced Cancer Patients

Metastatic Cancer Clinical Trial

Official title:

Online Narrative Interventions and Family Support for Advanced Cancer Patients

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00948207
• Other study ID #: M-2009-1189
• Secondary ID: R21CA129890-01A2
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2009
• Est. completion date: July 2011

Study information

• Verified date: February 2016
• Source: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators will test whether narrative life review and web-based social networking for middle aged adults with advanced cancer will improve:

1. existential well being (and reduce psychological distress)

2. generativity and relationship quality, thereby mediating the intervention effects

The investigators will also conduct exploratory process analyses of each participant's social network.

Description:

Middle aged patients with advanced cancer report more distress, and active search for meaning and personal growth than older and/or early stage patients. Nonetheless, such positive growth is far from typical and interventions help. Expert-guided life review reduced distress for hospice patients, but is not widely accessible—and many patients lack the energy or skill to write their own life story. Online cancer information and support expert systems improve quality of life. Patients are increasingly developing their own social networks, but many lack the skills to do so. Moreover the effects on social networking on patient well-being have not been studied.

"My Living Story" elicits a dignity-enhancing life story via a telephone interview (based on Chochinov, JAMA 2002), and delivers the edited transcript on the patient's personal miLivingStory social network. miLivingStory links to a life review education website (called miStory) with links to high quality cancer information, support and interactive planning tools.

We hypothesize that telling, revising and sharing the life story with one's selected social network will improve the patient's existential well-being and reduce their distress. Furthermore, we hypothesize that these effects will be mediated by My Living Story's effects on improving the patient's sense of legacy (generativity) and the quality of their relationships. Our exploratory observational analyses of each individual miLivingStory network will contribute to an understanding of how social network configuration and communication patterns correlate with measured outcomes

We will recruit and randomize 100 patients with advanced cancer. The control group will receive a personalized web portal (called miOwnResources) with links to high quality cancer information, social support and interactive planning tools, and a feature to add their own links. All participants will sign informed consent forms, complete a pre-test survey and post-tests at tow and four months.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 117
• Est. completion date: July 2011
• Est. primary completion date: February 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 30 Years to 60 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 30 - 60,

• Stage III or IV Cancer,

• Able and willing to use an internet computer to complete study activities.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Institutionalized, < 6 months prognosis,

• Cannot read or understand English,

• Unable or unwilling to use an internet computer to complete study activities.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Metastatic Cancer
• Neoplasm Metastasis

Intervention

Behavioral:
• My Living Story
Components include: 1. Life Review Interview by phone (questions based on Chochinov, 2002 dignity enhancing interview); 2) Edited transcript is delivered in a word format on...; 3) miLivingStory, a personal social network, where participants can manage content, design and layer; invite and manage their fiends and family. 4) miStory, a life review education website and portal to websites for: cancer information, databases to "do your own research," social support, interactive planning tools, and a page to add their own weblinks.
• My Own Resources
miOwnResources is a personalized, password-protected web portal to high quality websites that provide cancer information, cancer research databases for "do your own research," social support, and interactive planning tools. miOwnResources also has a page for participants to add their own weblinks.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center	Madison	Wisconsin

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Wisconsin, Madison	National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Existential Well-being (FACIT-Sp)		0, 2 and 4 months
Secondary	Distress (POMS-SF)		0, 2, and 4 months

External Links

•   University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center