Emerging From the Haze™- Measuring the Impact of a Psycho-education Program on Perceived Cognition After Breast Cancer Treatment

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cancer; Cognition

Treatments: Other: Emerging from the Haze

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02360917

IIT 2014-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, we have developed a novel curriculum for a 6-week psycho-educationally-based, cognitive behavioral program to help patients with subjective cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, titled Emerging from the Haze™ (Haze). Each series meets once a week for 2 hours for 6 weeks. The leading neuropsychologist covers material such as guided relaxation, behavioral strategies for automatic/negative thoughts, compensatory strategies for attention and memory, executive functioning, pacing, and balance. Each Haze series will be electronically delivered in a live format to our satellite site, The University of Kansas.

Enrollment: 31 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Completed treatment for stage 1-3 breast cancer at least two months but not more than 24 months prior to enrollment.
• Having received chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy
• Female, Age ≥18 years.
• FACT-Cog score less than 59 on the Perceived Cognitive Impairment subscale
• Eligible after 2 months of completing all their active cancer treatment with the exception of long-term hormonal treatments or trastuzumab.
• Subjective complaint of cognitive concerns at time of enrollment
• Must be able to understand and communicate proficiently in English
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent.
• Agree to complete study surveys

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who have significant personality disorders or unstable psychiatric disorders (including active major depression, substance abuse, psychosis or bipolar disorder) as assessed by the interviewing clinician
• Patients with known brain metastases, history of brain metastases or radiation to the brain.
• Patients with a history of stroke or other pre-existing neurological condition that may contribute to cognitive dysfunction.
• Non-English speakers
• Receiving treatment for another malignancy other than breast cancer
• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, chronic anemia, uncontrolled hypothyroidism, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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31 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention group will undergo 6 weeks of psycho-educational classes provided in a live setting at Cedars Sinai and a web based setting at The University of Kansas. Each class will focus on a different realm of coping with chemo-brain.

Treatment:

Other: Emerging from the Haze

Waitlist

Other group

Description:

Participants assigned to the control group will be placed on a wait list for the Haze program. While they are waiting for admittance to the program, they will receive the same surveys as the participants who are taking the Haze class. Additionally, participants assigned to the control group will receive the surveys again when taking the class in order to allow comparison of the effects of the program on the control group. Participants assigned to the wait list will be enrolled in the following Haze series.

Treatment:

Other: Emerging from the Haze