Reducing Distress and Depressive-symptoms in Rural Women

September 21, 2023 updated by: University of Nebraska

Reducing Distress and Depressive-symptoms in Rural Women Using CaringGuidance™-After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Approximately 30% of U.S. breast cancer survivors experience significant cancer-related distress ranging from adjustment disorders, depression-symptoms and major depression up to 20 years after diagnosis. For rural cancer survivors, lack of access to care, support and stigma associated with cancer and mental health, challenge rural women's ability to prevent cancer-related distress and its deleterious outcomes. However, these barriers may be overcome by a new Internet-based psychoeducational program designed for newly diagnosed women; CaringGuidance™- After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. This self-guided program provides information, cognitive-behavioral and supportive coping strategies in a text/audio/visual format accessed via Internet/mobile devices to increase understanding and provide supportive tools to prevent/manage distress and depressive-symptoms. This pilot study will determine preliminary efficacy of the CaringGuidance™ program on distress and depressive-symptoms monthly and over 3 months, for rural women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Of the 3.1 million U.S. breast cancer survivors, approximately 30% experience significant cancer-related distress ranging from sub-threshold to diagnosable adjustment disorders, depression-symptoms and major depression up to 20 years after diagnosis. Rural cancer survivors report poorer mental health than urban survivors. Lack of access to care, support and stigma associated with cancer and mental health, challenge rural women's ability to prevent cancer-related distress and its deleterious outcomes. These barriers may be overcome by a new Internet-based, psychoeducational program designed for newly diagnosed women; CaringGuidance™- After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. This self-guided program provides information, cognitive-behavioral and supportive coping strategies in a text/audio/visual format accessed via Internet/mobile devices to increase understanding, and provide supportive tools to prevent/manage distress and depressive-symptoms.

The aims of this pilot study are to determine preliminary efficacy of the CaringGuidance™ program on distress and depressive-symptoms monthly and over 3 months, for rural women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, and trial measures and methods, prior to a fully powered randomized controlled clinical trial.

Sixty rural women, will be randomized to 3 months of self-guided CaringGuidance™ program access with usual care or usual care alone. Both groups complete monthly standard psychosocial measures, daily activity/symptom logs and receive a monthly call. Program engagement/dose will be measured by the CaringGuidance™ internal data system. Descriptive and inferential statistics will characterize the sample and determine differences between groups at monthly intervals and overall. Variability of outcome variables will also be assessed to determine usefulness.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

33

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Nebraska
      • Omaha, Nebraska, United States, 68131
        • University of Nebraska Medical Center, Oncology Clinics

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

Ages Eligible for Study

19 years to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • experiencing their first, stage 0 - IIIA breast cancer diagnosis (either clinical or definitive early stage at enrollment), and be 19 to 85 years of age,
  • enroll < 3 months post-diagnosis (as soon as possible after diagnosis is desirable),
  • reside in a non-metro county of the United States according to the USDA Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (6 -9) (RUCC) or at a rural zip-code by the USDA Rural Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes (4.0, 4.2, 5.0, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 7.2-4, 8.0, 8.2-4, 9.0-2, 10.0, 10.2-6)
  • be able to read and write in English since the CaringGuidance™ program is in English,
  • have regular access (e.g. home or work) to high speed/satellite broadband Internet on desk/laptop or wireless iPad, Android or iPhone throughout the 3 months of the study,*
  • have an email address at which to receive CaringGuidance™ prompts,
  • have a Baseline Distress Thermometer score of > 4, or an Impact of Events Scale score of > 9, or Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale score of > 16 (i.e. clinically meaningful thresholds).
  • Able to comprehend and provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women with recurrent or advanced breast cancer
  • Those mentally or physically unable to read the consent form or other study materials and/or participate in the consent and engagement with the CaringGuidance program. Women who have been hospitalized for mental health issues or substance abuse in the past year are ineligible.

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CaringGuidance Intervention
Three months of web-based CaringGuidance psychoeducational program use, independently on home computer in addition to usual care.
CaringGuidance After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, psychoeducational, Internet-accessible program
No Intervention: Usual Care
Three months of care as usual from subjects' clinics and community as the subject chooses.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
change from baseline in distress at 1, 2, and 3 months
Time Frame: at baseline and months 1, 2, and 3
self-report of psychological distress
at baseline and months 1, 2, and 3
change from baseline in depressive-symptoms at 1, 2, and 3 months
Time Frame: at baseline and months 1, 2, and 3
self-report of depressive-symptoms
at baseline and months 1, 2, and 3

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Robin M Lally, PhD, University of Nebraska

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)

July 19, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 11, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

May 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 28, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

March 14, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 25, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 21, 2023

Last Verified

September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0140-17-EP

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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