Writing Intervention With Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Cancer Patients; Communication Research

Treatments: Behavioral: Writing; Behavioral: Interview

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05975333

ChronCan

NCI-2023-06074 (Registry Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Young people with cancer have difficult experiences and writing exercises may help improve their well-being. However, very few studies have examined how a creative writing activity might be useful for young people with cancer. In this pilot study, researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital hope to explore whether teenagers and young adults with cancer want to participate in a writing exercise and whether they find it to be valuable.

Primary Objective

To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a writing-based narrative medicine intervention for adolescent and young adult patients with cancer.

Full description

Participants will be given the opportunity to write about their experiences with cancer, with support and guidance from an expert writer. Participants will meet briefly with the expert at the start of the exercise (15-30 minutes), and they can choose to meet 1-3 additional times with the expert over the next 2 months to receive further support if they wish.

After completing the writing exercise, participants will do an informal interview to share their thoughts about whether the experience of writing felt helpful or not. The post-intervention interview will occur at around 2 months after enrollment, +/- 1 month. Patients may participate in a second informal semi-structured interview 6 to 12 months after completing the first interview. Additionally, bereaved parents may participate in an informal interview on study.

Enrollment: 26 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 15 to 25 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 15-25
• Currently receiving cancer-directed therapy
• Active patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Parent of a ChronCan participant who has passed away

Exclusion criteria

• Does not meet the inclusion criteria
• If the parents have not responded or not interviewed till December 31, 2025.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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26 participants in 1 patient group

Participants

Experimental group

Description:

Adolescents and young adults (AYA) patients aged 15-25 years currently receiving cancer-directed therapy at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Treatment:

Behavioral: Interview

Behavioral: Writing