Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study

New York University (NYU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mental Health Issue

Treatments: Behavioral: Caregiving Fact writing; Behavioral: Expressive Helping

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05087576

20-1547

Details and patient eligibility

About

The Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of the Expressive Helping (EH) intervention among Chinese Americans who are providing care for family members undergoing cancer treatment.

Full description

Because the psychosocial health of Chinese cancer patients and their caregivers are linked, there is a need to improve health outcomes for not just the patients, but also for the caregivers. While many caregiving interventions have focused on the caregiver-patient dyad as the "the unit of care", interventions that solely target caregivers are crucial given the emotional, social, financial, and physical toll of caregiving. To address this need, investigators are testing a writing intervention, Expressive Helping (EH), with Chinese family members who are providing care for their family members diagnosed with cancer. Over four brief structured writing sessions, participants write about their cancer caregiving experiences, disclosing their emotions and providing encouragement and guidance, with the knowledge that their narratives will be shared with and used as a resource for other Chinese cancer caregivers. Participants will be adult cancer caregivers of Chinese descent. After screening and consent, eligible participants will be enrolled in a 1:1 randomized controlled trial. Assessments of psychological symptoms will occur at baseline (prior to randomization), 1-month post-intervention, and 3-month post-intervention. Investigators will also assess potential mediators and moderators of the potential intervention effects. Investigators interacting with the participants will be blind to condition assignment.

Enrollment: 67 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Over 18 years old
• Of Chinese descent
• Informal (i.e., uncompensated) caregiver of individual diagnosed with cancer

Exclusion criteria

• Inability to read or write English or Traditional/Simplified Chinese

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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67 participants in 2 patient groups

Expressive Helping writing

Experimental group

Description:

During the first writing session, participants will be informed that people benefit from learning about other cancer caregivers' experiences, and that the first three sessions will consist of writing exercises designed to help them think about their cancer caregiving experiences and to prepare them for writing a helpful letter to other Chinese cancer caregivers during the fourth and final writing session.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expressive Helping

Caregiving Facts writing

Active Comparator group

Description:

During each week, participants in the control group will be asked to write facts about their experience with cancer caregiving (e.g., type of treatment their loved one is receiving) and will be asked to avoid writing about their emotions. Participants in this group will be told that their writing will not be shared with others outside of the research team.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Caregiving Fact writing