The Impact of the SPIKES Protocol With IVF Patients

May 24, 2022 updated by: Alice Domar, Boston IVF

A Comparison of the SPIKES Protocol for Delivering Bad News to the Current Standard of Care in the in Vitro Fertilization Population

The purpose of this study is to determine if the utilization of the SPIKES protocol for delivering bad news is perceived to be more compassionate and effective than the current standard of care for IVF patients receiving negative pregnancy test results.

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

Presently, nurses at Boston IVF (BIVF) and Weill Cornell Medical Center Division of Reproductive Medicine (Cornell) do not have a scripted method to deliver negative pregnancy tests to in Vitro Fertilization (IVF) patients. This study will invite clinic nurses to assist in the research protocol; half of the nurses will be randomized to be trained on a compassionate way to deliver bad news following the SPIKES protocol, while the other half will continue with the current standard of care of news delivery. The patients who receive the negative test phone calls from participating nurses will be surveyed to see if the method of which the news was delivered was scored as more compassionate, as well as if it was associated with reduced participants reported level of distress and depression.

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.
136

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

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

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, 02451
        • Boston IVF
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10065
        • Weill Cornell Medical Center Division of Reproductive Medicine

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

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female
  • Age >18
  • Underwent an embryo or blastocyst transfer using their own eggs at participating clinic
  • Able to read and understand English
  • Access to email
  • Received a negative pregnancy test result phone call from a nurse involved in the research study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Partners of patients undergoing treatment

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: 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: SPIKES Protocol Compassionate Call
Nurses trained to contact IVF patients with negative pregnancy test results who were trained on the SPIKES-focused bad news delivery script.
Behavioral: Spikes-focused bad news protocol
Nurses trained to deliver bad news to IVF patients based on the Spikes-protocol for compassionately delivering bad news to patients.
No Intervention: Control: Standard of Care Call
Nurses who will continue to deliver bad news as they have been in the past without a script.

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
Assess if the SPIKES-based nursing script is associated with a difference in perceived nursing compassion
Time Frame: Within 48 hours of phone call
We revised the Communicating Bad News questionnaire which follows the SPIKES protocol, published by Gonzales-Cabrera et al. Their questionnaire had 25 items, Internal consistency was 0.816. The content validity was established via the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO) with a score of 0.683 and the Bartlett test of sphericity was p<0.001. The principal component analysis supported a four dimension construct. There are 22 items rated 1, 2, 3 with a scoring range of 22-66. For the Compassion Assessment, there are 19 slots for the 5 categories so the scoring range is 5-95. The content validity was established via the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO) with a score of 0.683. and the Bartlett test of sphericity was p<0.001. The principal component analysis supported a four dimension construct. There are 22 items rated 1,2,3 so the scoring range is 22-66. For the Compassion Assessment, there are 19 slots for the 5 categories so the scoring range is 5-95.
Within 48 hours of phone call
Assess patient distress after receiving the negative pregnancy test phone call
Time Frame: Within 48 hours of phone call
We will use 5-point Likert scales to assess patient distress after receiving the negative pregnancy test phone call. The Likert scale range is 1-5.
Within 48 hours of phone call
Assess patient depression after receiving the negative pregnancy test phone call
Time Frame: Within 48 hours of phone call
We will use 5-point Likert scales to assess patient depression after receiving the negative pregnancy test phone call. The Likert scale range is 1-5.
Within 48 hours of phone call

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.
Boston IVF

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.
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

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: Alice Domar, PhD, Boston IVF

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.
June 17, 2021

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.
March 31, 2022

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.
May 24, 2022

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).
May 26, 2021

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.
June 1, 2021

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.
June 8, 2021

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.
May 26, 2022

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.
May 24, 2022

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.
May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

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.
  • BN2021

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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