Feasibility of a Stress Reduction Intervention Study in Sickle Cell Disease

July 15, 2015 updated by: Miriam O. Ezenwa, University of Illinois at Chicago
Stress is known to trigger acute pain crisis of sickle cell disease (SCD). SCD is an inherited blood disorder that afflicts about 100,000 people in the United States, and is among the most common lethal genetic diseases in the United States. Though worldwide in distribution, in the US it is most commonly found in African Americans. Its best known complication is severe, recurrent relentless pain, often known as pain crisis. Non-drug treatment for SCD pain such as cognitive coping interventions have been shown to be effective for reducing SCD pain intensity, but they are complicated, multifaceted, and time-consuming. A simple and cost-effective alternative such as guided imagery (GI) could reduce the effect of stress on SCD pain. GI is an intervention where patients listen to and view audio-visual recordings while being directed to visualize themselves being immersed in that scene or scenario. There are no published studies on the use of GI as a simple stress coping intervention or tracking stress in a systematic manner as a trigger for SCD pain.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
28

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults 18 years of age or older,
  • Diagnosis of SCD,
  • Self-reported pain of at least 3 on a 0-10 scale related to SCD,
  • Spoke and read English, and
  • Self-identified as being of African or Hispanic descent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Legally blind or physically unable to complete procedures.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Guided audio-visual relaxation group
The guided relaxation (GR) intervention included a single 12-min GR video clip we administered to subjects at the baseline visit to determine the immediate effects of GR on stress and pain. The GR intervention also included six video clips, which ranged from 2 to 20 minutes in length to determine the short-term (2-week) effects of GR on stress and pain.
Behavioral: Guided audio-visual relaxation
No Intervention: Attention Control group
For the attention control group, subjects engaged in a 12-min computer-based discussion about their sickle cell disease (SCD) experience. The audio-taped questions and onscreen directions were programmed for self-administration. Subjects' responses were captured via the microphone so that Data Collectors were not involved in this discussion process, and it was equivalent to the guided relation activity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Current stress
Time Frame: Immediate (baseline)
Stress intensity scale: A 3-item scale that asks patients to report their current, least, and worst stress intensity today, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "no stress" and 10 is "stress as bad as it could be." We estimated intervention effects using linear regression with bootstrapping.
Immediate (baseline)
Current pain
Time Frame: Immediate (baseline)
PAINReportIt® Pain intensity scale: A 3-item scale that asks patients to report their current, least, and worst pain intensity today, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "no pain" and 10 is "pain as bad as it could be." We estimated intervention effects using linear regression with bootstrapping.
Immediate (baseline)
Average stress intensity
Time Frame: Short-term (2 weeks)
Stress intensity scale: A 3-item scale that asks patients to report their current, least, and worst stress intensity today, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "no stress" and 10 is "stress as bad as it could be." We averaged the three scores to create an average stress intensity score. We estimated intervention effects using linear regression with bootstrapping.
Short-term (2 weeks)
Composite pain index
Time Frame: Short-term (2 weeks)
PAINReportIt® Composite pain index (CPI): A a multidimensional representation of pain calculated by averaging the individual proportional scores for each of the four pain dimensions: (1) number of pain sites; (2) pain intensity; (3) total pain rating index (from the McGill Pain Questionnaire [MPQ], pain quality); and (4) pain pattern score. the scores for the CPI range from 0 to 100. We estimated intervention effects using linear regression with bootstrapping.
Short-term (2 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Illinois at Chicago

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Miriam O Ezenwa, PhD, RN, University of Illinois at Chicago

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
November 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 13, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 15, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 17, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 17, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 15, 2015

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • Protocol # 2012-1084

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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