Removing Surrogates' Uncertainty to Reduce Fear and Anxiety After Cardiac Events (RESURFACE)

Columbia University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cardiac Arrest

Treatments: Behavioral: Educational Informational Platform

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06048068

P30AG064198 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

AAAR8497

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of an informational website to reduce uncertainty, psychological distress, and caregiver burden among close family members of cardiac arrest patients. The investigators hypothesize that participants who receive access to the website will have lower rates of uncertainty, psychological distress, and caregiver burden at 3 months post-hospital discharge compared to participants who receive usual care.

Full description

This study will be an unblinded, two-arm randomized controlled trial that enrolls up to 100 adult surrogates of living cardiac arrest patients hospitalized in the New York Presbyterian hospital system. Participants must be English- or Spanish-speaking and have a device with internet access. Participants will be randomized 2:1 to receive the informational intervention program or usual care (control).

Intervention arm participants will receive the informational intervention in three discrete packages upon study enrollment, movement to the general medical floor, and at one month post-discharge. All participants will be assessed at study enrollment, hospital discharge, and 3 months post-discharge for their illness uncertainty, psychological distress, and caregiver burden. All participants will also wear a GENEActiv sleep monitor to track their sleep for one week following hospital discharge.

Enrollment: 53 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years of age or older
• Surrogate of a living NewYork Presbyterian Hospital cardiac arrest patient
• English- or Spanish-speaking
• Has a working smartphone, tablet, laptop, or other device with internet access

Exclusion criteria

• Any medical and/or psychiatric impairment precluding them from complying with the protocol
• Non-English and non-Spanish speaking
• Lack of internet/device access
• Surrogate of an adult CA patient who passed away
• Cannot be reached for initial contact (3 unsuccessful attempts made in ICU)
• Moved to the in-patient floor before initial contact can be established

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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53 participants in 2 patient groups

Informational Intervention Arm

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this arm will receive access to the informational intervention program, via a website link that they will access through their own person phone/tablet/computer.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Educational Informational Platform

Control Arm

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in this arm will receive usual care and no access to the informational intervention program.