Communication Training in Promoting Employment Retention Among Cancer Patients

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Unspecified Adult Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific

Treatments

Other: educational intervention

Other: quality-of-life assessment

Other: questionnaire administration

Other: communication skills training

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

NIH

Identifiers

NCT02895490

HM14021 (Other Identifier)

MCC-14021 (Other Identifier)

NCI-2013-02478 (Registry Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This randomized clinical trial studies communication training in promoting employment retention among cancer patients. Communication training may improve patient-employer communication and increase the likelihood that cancer patients will remain employed, reduce patients' time away from work, and increase workplace accommodations that enable patients to balance treatment and work.

Full description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Demonstrate the efficacy of the DVD intervention to a) increase patients' knowledge of their legal rights in the workplace, b) improve patient perceptions of workplace communication about the impact of cancer treatment and ongoing surveillance, and c) increase the number of requested and received workplace accommodations.

II. Compare employment status (employed vs non-employed) between the treatment and control arms.

III. Compare weekly hours of work between the treatment and control arms.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

Arm I: Patients receive a DVD containing educational information about patients' legal rights in the workplace and communication skills demonstrated through four scenarios depicting a variety of employer-employee communication challenges for patients, provided by the Legal Information Network for Cancer (LINC) group.

Arm II: Patients receive information about the LINC group

After completion of study, patients are followed up at 4, 12, and 52 weeks.

Enrollment

8 patients

Sex

All

Ages

21 to 64 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Patients with a new, primary diagnosis of a solid tumor
Employed full- or part-time at the time of enrollment
English-speaking
Able to participate in telephone interviews
Able to view a 1-hour DVD
Patients must have a treatment plan that includes chemotherapy and be within 2 weeks of initiating chemotherapy

Exclusion criteria

Patients with prior cancer except non-melanoma skin cancer

Trial design

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

8 participants in 2 patient groups

Arm I (DVD)

Experimental group

Description:

Patients receive a DVD containing educational information about patients' legal rights in the workplace and communication skills demonstrated through four scenarios depicting a variety of employer-employee communication challenges for patients, provided by LINC group.

Treatment:

Other: questionnaire administration

Other: communication skills training

Other: quality-of-life assessment

Other: educational intervention

Arm II (control)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients receive information about the LINC group.

Treatment:

Other: questionnaire administration

Other: quality-of-life assessment