Educational Counseling in Improving Communication and Quality of Life in Spouses and Breast Cancer Patients

NCT ID: NCT01723943

Last Updated: 2018-02-08

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

108 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2009-03-31

Study Completion Date

2014-12-31

Brief Summary

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This randomized clinical trial studies educational counseling in improving communication and quality of life in spouses and breast cancer patients. An outpatient education and behavior skills training program may help spouses and patients with breast cancer communicate better and improve quality of life. It is not yet known whether educational counseling is more effective than an educational booklet in improving communication and quality of life.

Detailed Description

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PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on spouses' outcome variables.

II. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on ill partners (patients') outcome variables.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

ARM I: Participants receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet, which focuses on ways to understand and deal with marital communication and relationship issues arising from breast cancer diagnosis.

ARM II: Participants undergo the Helping Her Heal educational counseling program comprising 5 1-hour sessions 2 weeks apart.

SESSION I: Participants learn stress management skills and discover ways stress affects themselves and their partner.

SESSION II: Participants practice attentive listening and reduce the tendency to try to distract patients from talking about sad or difficult aspects of the cancer experience.

SESSION III: Patients learn to help their spouse talk when she is quiet or withdrawn, to add to their understanding of what she is thinking and feeling, and to add to their ways of supporting her during especially difficult times with the cancer.

SESSION IV: Participants learn strategies for physically reconnecting with spouses.

SESSION V: Participants review skills from prior sessions, identify strategies he or she will continue to use to manage their personal stress, and identify ways to maintain connection and support.

After completion of study, patients are followed up at 3 and 6 months.

Conditions

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Anxiety Disorder Depression Ductal Breast Carcinoma in Situ Lobular Breast Carcinoma in Situ Psychosocial Effects of Cancer and Its Treatment Stage IA Breast Cancer Stage IB Breast Cancer Stage II Breast Cancer Stage IIIA Breast Cancer Stage IIIB Breast Cancer Stage IIIC Breast Cancer

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Study Groups

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Arm I (educational booklet)

Participants receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet, which focuses on ways to understand and deal with marital communication and relationship issues arising from breast cancer diagnosis.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

educational intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

Receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet

Arm II (Helping Her Heal program)

Participants undergo the Helping Her Heal educational counseling program comprising 5 1-hour sessions 2 weeks apart.

SESSION I: Participants learn stress management skills and discover ways stress affects themselves and their partner.

SESSION II: Participants practice attentive listening and reduce the tendency to try to distract patients from talking about sad or difficult aspects of the cancer experience.

SESSION III: Patients learn to help their spouse talk when she is quiet or withdrawn, to add to their understanding of what she is thinking and feeling, and to add to their ways of supporting her during especially difficult times with the cancer.

SESSION IV: Participants learn strategies for physically reconnecting with spouses.

SESSION V: Participants review skills from prior sessions, identify strategies he or she will continue to use to manage their personal stress, and identify ways to maintain connection and support.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

counseling intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

educational intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

psychosocial support for caregiver

Intervention Type OTHER

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

Interventions

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educational intervention

Receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet

Intervention Type OTHER

counseling intervention

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

Intervention Type OTHER

educational intervention

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

Intervention Type OTHER

psychosocial support for caregiver

Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

Intervention Type OTHER

Other Intervention Names

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intervention, educational counseling and communications studies intervention, educational

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Spouses (in both heterosexual couples and same-sex couples) of women diagnosed within the past 6 months with stage 0, I, II or III breast cancer (in situ/local/regional disease) will be eligible to participate, as will the diagnosed wife/partner
* Spouses and patients must be married or cohabiting for at least 6 months
* Spouses and patients must have English as one of their languages of choice (they can be multilingual)
* Spouses and patients must live within 25 miles of the University of Washington (UW) study center
* Spouses/partners must be willing to give a sample of blood and/or sputum at time of first and second data collections

Exclusion Criteria

* Woman diagnosed with stage IV or recurrent breast cancer or who is \> 6 months post-diagnosis
* Woman and/or spouse not able to read and write in English
* Spouses could not participate if the ill partner refused participation
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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National Cancer Institute (NCI)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Washington

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Frances Lewis

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium

Locations

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Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium

Seattle, Washington, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Lewis FM, Griffith KA, Alzawad Z, Dawson PL, Zahlis EH, Shands ME. Helping Her Heal: Randomized clinical trial to enhance dyadic outcomes in couples. Psychooncology. 2019 Feb;28(2):430-438. doi: 10.1002/pon.4966. Epub 2018 Dec 28.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 30549145 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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NCI-2013-01838

Identifier Type: REGISTRY

Identifier Source: secondary_id

34500

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: secondary_id

8061

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

P30CA015704

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

R01CA114561

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

8061

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

NCT02032992

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: nct_alias

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