Integrating Palliative Care Into Self-Management of Breast Cancer

Yale University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Breast Cancer

Treatments: Behavioral: Symptom Management Group; Behavioral: Self-Management Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02148575

1307012400

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test a psycho-educational intervention, Managing Cancer Care: A Personal Guide (MCC), that is intended to improve patients' knowledge of palliative care and to facilitate its timely integration into self-management of their breast cancer. The MCC will be tested with patients with Stage I-IV breast cancer at baseline, one, and three months following enrollment. The intervention group will receive the MCC, and the attention-control group will receive a symptom management toolkit. Participants' family caregivers will also be enrolled to provide information on patients' self-management. Investigators hypothesize that users of MCC, as compared to attention-control participants, will demonstrate improved knowledge, feelings, and behaviors related to self-management of their cancer care. This innovative research can help to establish palliative care as a mainstay of self-management interventions that target serious illnesses.

Enrollment: 109 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Over the age of 21
• Stage I-IV breast cancer
• Live in the State of Connecticut
• Speak English
• Receiving any kind of treatment for breast cancer
• Prognosis of at least 6 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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109 participants in 2 patient groups

Self-Management Group

Experimental group

Description:

Managing Cancer Care: A Personal Guide (MCC) is a set of magazine-format, printed modules that includes information about key self-management topics, worksheets, "conversation starters", and targeted links to local and internet resources, among other features.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Management Group

Symptom Management Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in the Symptom Management Group will be given a symptom management toolkit that provides information on the most commonly experienced symptoms and side effects of cancer treatment, including fatigue, nausea, and sleep problems, among others. Each chapter includes information on when and why the symptom may occur, how the symptom can be managed, and when to call a provider.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Symptom Management Group