Reducing Disparities in Rural Advanced Cancer Patients and Caregivers

February 28, 2018 updated by: Marie Anne Bakitas, University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Purpose of this project is to implement ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends) at four community cancer practices that have a high percentage of rural and/or medically-underserved patients diagnosed with advanced cancer and their family caregivers. The ENABLE principal investigator (PI) and the Coordinating Center team are located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Site teams are - Spartanburg SC/Gibbs Cancer Center, Birmingham VA Medical Center, University of South Alabama/Mitchell Cancer Institute, UAB Division of Gynecologic Oncology and UAB Department of Hematology Oncology.

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.

Detailed Description

ENABLE is an evidence-based concurrent oncology palliative care model that is ready for implementation. It can overcome the barriers created by rural geography and addresses the often unrecognized and unmet needs of the family caregivers. The EIT is an emerging conceptual model for translating evidence into practice. The central core is the linkage between evidence and stakeholders. Successful implementation results from the interaction of Intervention Program/Policy (ENABLE), Implementation Processes (community-based participatory research methods[CBPR] within a learning collaborative) and the Practical Progress Measures (RE-AIM). On-going consideration of the Multi-level Context is pivotal to successful implementation. This approach has the potential to have a high impact on reducing disparities resulting from the gap between ASCO recommendations and current oncology and palliative care practices in rural patients and families.

The Urgent Need to Improve Rural Palliative and End-of-life Care for Patients and Caregivers According to the 2010 US Census data, nearly 60 million citizens live in rural or non-metropolitan areas; however, less than 10% of the 833 US palliative care programs are located in rural areas (data provided by the Center to Advance Palliative Care Registry). Rural advanced cancer patients are vulnerable and at high risk of experiencing social isolation and disparities in palliative care due to long distances from treatment centers, low population density, and limited clinical expertise (because rural primary care clinicians and hospices programs have relatively few terminally-ill patients.) Rural location is related to less and later hospice use. Hence, most rural cancer patients are unlikely to have access to interdisciplinary team-based palliative and hospice care recommended by ASCO2 and National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. These patients will lack this expertise or be transferred to a distant site for palliation.6 Patients transferred to distant tertiary care settings are at high risk of spending their last days or weeks of life far from home and loved ones. Conversely, rural patients may suffer during their last weeks or days of life without the benefit of state-of-art treatments of pain or other causes of distress. A US palliative care report card identified rural location as high risk for little access to palliative care. By definition, palliative care includes family caregiver support. An estimated million Americans are informal caregivers defined as an unpaid individual who assist someone with functional impairment with activities of their daily living to some degree. Informal caregiving can have deleterious effects on the caregivers' physical and emotional health; a phenomenon referred to as caregiver burden. A recent meta- analysis showed that cancer caregivers in particular, compared to non-caregiver controls, exhibited higher levels of stress and depression, and lower subjective well-being and physical health. ENABLE includes the evidence-based, caregiver-specific COPE (Creativity, Optimism, Planning, Expert information) intervention, developed by McMillan and colleagues. COPE, based in problem-solving education theory, is designed to improve caregivers' creative problem-solving, realistic optimism, reasonable goal-setting, and knowledge/utilization of relevant resources. Compared to usual care, two weeks post-intervention, caregivers in COPE showed improvements in caregiver burden and overall QOL. COPE is the basis of the ACS caregiving guide and has been adapted for caregivers in other diseases.

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.
Observational

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.
4

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population is rural community-based cancer centers. According to the 2010 US Census data, nearly 60 million citizens live in rural or non-metropolitan areas;however, less than 10% of the 833 US palliative care programs are located in rural areas. Rural advanced cancer patients are vulnerable and at high risk of experiencing social isolation and disparities in palliative care due to long distances from treatment centers,low population density, and limited clinical expertise. Rural location is related to less and later hospice use.Hence, most rural cancer patients are unlikely to have access to interdisciplinary team-based palliative and hospice care recommended by ASCO and National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Rural serving community-based cancer centers that do not have a palliative care program

Exclusion Criteria

• none

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
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.
Institution
Community cancer centers implementing ENABLE
Other: ENABLE
This is an implementation science study in which an evidence-based early palliative care intervention, ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends), is being implemented in rural community cancer centers that did not have a palliative care program.

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
General Organization Index (GOI) Outcomes Measure
Time Frame: 1 Yr Post Implementation
The General Organizational Index (GOI) is used to describe the organizational strengths of an organization serving healthcare. The total range of the score would be 12 (lowest - no implementation of good organizational structure) to 60 (full implemented organizational structure). The score is derived from 12 categories which are assigned a score of 1 (no implementation) to 5 (fully implemented); hence a total possible score of 12 - 60.
1 Yr Post Implementation

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 Alabama at Birmingham

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
VA Office of Research and Development
University of South Alabama
Spartanburg Regional Family Medicine

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 (Actual)

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.
July 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.
June 30, 2017

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.
June 30, 2017

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).
December 18, 2017

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.
February 28, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

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.
March 7, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

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.
March 7, 2018

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.
February 28, 2018

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.
February 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

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.
  • X140522006

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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