Narrative E-Writing Intervention (NeW-I) for Parents of Children With Chronic Life-Threatening Illness
NCT ID: NCT03684382
Last Updated: 2019-02-18
Study Results
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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UNKNOWN
NA
66 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2019-02-01
2020-10-31
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Objective and Methods: A novel therapist-facilitated, online intervention is conceived to fill this critical service gap. Adopting an evidence-based approach, the research team has developed a strength-focused and meaning-oriented Narrative e-Writing Intervention (NeW-I) for parents anticipating the death of their child due to a chronic life-threatening condition. The design of NeW-I is informed by an existing body of research (i.e. international systematic review and local qualitative inquiry) that critically examines the lived experience of bereaved parents of children with life- limiting illnesses. NeW-I will be implemented in Singapore in collaboration with KK Women and Child's Hospital and Club Rainbow Singapore. A pilot Randomized Control Trial (RCT) with a built-in accessibility and feasibility study will examine the efficacy of the NeW-I therapeutic protocol for enhancing quality of life, spiritual wellbeing, hope and perceived social support, as well as reducing depressive symptoms, caregiver burden and anticipatory grief among a purposive sample of 66 participants.
Significance: NeW-I aspires to enhance quality of life, spiritual well-being, hope and sense of social support, as well as alleviating depressive symptoms, caregiving burden, and adverse grief outcomes among Singaporean parents facing the terminal illness and eventual death of their sick child. The findings generated will form the foundation of a full-scale RCT for advancing holistic paediatric palliative care and parental bereavement support locally and around the world.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
NONE
Study Groups
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NeW-I group
Participants engage in a weekly structured writing task of 15-30 minutes which provides them an opportunity to reflect on the emotional, practical and financial demands of caregiving, and the means to cope with these challenges (week 1), explore avenues where they can seek information and resources for caregiving (week 2), explore the sources of support which they have within their network of family and friends (week 3) and examine how they (and their children) can rise above illness-related challenges and live their lives as fully as possible (week 4). After participants complete their weekly writing task, the written narrative will be reviewed and edited by the therapist within the next 3-4 days. The revised draft will be shared with the participant along with constructive feedback, empathic support and psychoeducation. In week 5, participants will receive a 'legacy' document and engage in a voice call with the therapist to receive psychosocial support and for closure of therapy.
NeW-I group
A 5-week intervention offered to parents of children with chronic life-threatening illness using an internet-based narrative approach with life review elements. After completion of the first four weeks of the intervention, participants will receive a 'legacy' document which is a compiled and edited document of their narrative expression during the first four weeks. This legacy document is structured in a manner that enables participants to find a sense of spiritual well-being and hope in their experience of caring for their child through examination of past experiences and achievements as well as future aspirations.
Control group
Participants engage in a weekly unstructured writing task of 15-30 minutes with a single open-ended question for each week which allows them to respond in any manner they find acceptable. Simple empathic weekly feedbacks are provided by the therapist to encourage continuous participation. In week 5, a consolidated document that includes all unedited journal writings together with a brief summary statement of appreciation by the therapist will be given to participants to indicate conclusion of participation.
No interventions assigned to this group
Interventions
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NeW-I group
A 5-week intervention offered to parents of children with chronic life-threatening illness using an internet-based narrative approach with life review elements. After completion of the first four weeks of the intervention, participants will receive a 'legacy' document which is a compiled and edited document of their narrative expression during the first four weeks. This legacy document is structured in a manner that enables participants to find a sense of spiritual well-being and hope in their experience of caring for their child through examination of past experiences and achievements as well as future aspirations.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* Able to speak, read and write in English, as well as to provide informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria
* Suffering from severely high levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety and psychological distress (i. e. score of 19 or higher on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) or score of 29 or higher on Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10))
21 Years
99 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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KK Women's and Children's Hospital
OTHER_GOV
Club Rainbow Singapore
UNKNOWN
Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore
UNKNOWN
Rare Disorders Society Singapore
UNKNOWN
Nanyang Technological University
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Andy Hau Yan Ho, PhD, EdD
Assistant Professor
Locations
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Club Rainbow Singapore
Singapore, , Singapore
KK Women's and Children's Hospital
Singapore, , Singapore
Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore
Singapore, , Singapore
Rare Disorders Society Singapore
Singapore, , Singapore
Countries
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Central Contacts
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Facility Contacts
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References
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Bredle, J. M., Salsman, J. M., Debb, S. M., Arnold, B. J., & Cella, D. (2011). Spiritual Well-Being as a Component of Health-Related Quality of Life: The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp). Religions, 2(1), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel2010077
Dutta O, Tan-Ho G, Choo PY, Ho AHY. Lived experience of a child's chronic illness and death: A qualitative systematic review of the parental bereavement trajectory. Death Stud. 2019;43(9):547-561. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2018.1503621. Epub 2018 Oct 4.
Graessel E, Berth H, Lichte T, Grau H. Subjective caregiver burden: validity of the 10-item short version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers BSFC-s. BMC Geriatr. 2014 Feb 20;14:23. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-14-23.
Herth K. Abbreviated instrument to measure hope: development and psychometric evaluation. J Adv Nurs. 1992 Oct;17(10):1251-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.1992.tb01843.x.
Ho, A. H. Y. (2017). A Qualitative Study on the Lived Experience of Bereaved Parents of Young Children with Life Threatening Illness: Advancing Parental Bereavement Support in Singapore and Greater Asia (No. 2017-T1-001-034). Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 1 Fund.
Ho AHY, Car J, Ho MR, Tan-Ho G, Choo PY, Patinadan PV, Chong PH, Ong WY, Fan G, Tan YP, Neimeyer RA, Chochinov HM. A novel Family Dignity Intervention (FDI) for enhancing and informing holistic palliative care in Asia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2017 Dec 4;18(1):587. doi: 10.1186/s13063-017-2325-5.
Hogan NS, Schmidt LA. Testing the grief to personal growth model using structural equation modeling. Death Stud. 2002 Oct;26(8):615-34. doi: 10.1080/07481180290088338.
Ito M, Nakajima S, Fujisawa D, Miyashita M, Kim Y, Shear MK, Ghesquiere A, Wall MM. Brief measure for screening complicated grief: reliability and discriminant validity. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31209. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031209. Epub 2012 Feb 14.
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x.
Shear KM, Jackson CT, Essock SM, Donahue SA, Felton CJ. Screening for complicated grief among Project Liberty service recipients 18 months after September 11, 2001. Psychiatr Serv. 2006 Sep;57(9):1291-7. doi: 10.1176/ps.2006.57.9.1291.
Siebens HC, Tsukerman D, Adkins RH, Kahan J, Kemp B. Correlates of a Single-Item Quality-of-Life Measure in People Aging with Disabilities. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2015 Dec;94(12):1065-74. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000298.
Dutta O, Tan-Ho G, Low XC, Tan THB, Ganapathy S, Car J, Ho RM, Miao CY, Ho AHY. Acceptability and feasibility of a pilot randomized controlled trial of Narrative e-Writing Intervention (NeW-I) for parent-caregivers of children with chronic life-threatening illnesses in Singapore. BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Apr 29;21(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-00945-0.
Ho AHY, Dutta O, Tan-Ho G, Tan THB, Low XC, Ganapathy S, Car J, Ho RM, Miao CY. A Novel Narrative E-Writing Intervention for Parents of Children With Chronic Life-Threatening Illnesses: Protocol for a Pilot, Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Jul 5;9(7):e17561. doi: 10.2196/17561.
Other Identifiers
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IRB-2018-07-009
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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