Study of @neWorld: A Virtual Community for Children With Cancer

May 14, 2013 updated by: Leap of Faith Technologies

@neWorld: A Virtual Community For Kids With Cancer

RATIONALE: Using an Internet Web site that enables children with cancer to interact online with classmates, participate in classroom activities, get easy-to-read medical information, and chat with family members, medical staff, and other children with cancer may help children cope with isolation, fear, and decreased self-esteem.

PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the effectiveness of an Internet Web site in providing social support and education to children who are undergoing treatment for cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop an Internet-based application that allows pediatric patients with cancer to enter a virtual community with the following capabilities:

    • Interact with classmates and participate in classroom activities via e-mail, chat groups, online field trips, art studio, music room, and game room
    • Identify and interact with a community of peers with similar medical conditions
    • Access a dictionary to get medical information in understandable terms
    • Interact with the medical community online
    • Interact with family members online
  • Determine the acceptability of this program among groups of these patients and their classmates, teachers, family members, and healthcare providers using focus groups.
  • Determine the effect of this program on self-esteem, coping behaviors, perceived social support, cancer-relevant medical knowledge, and feelings of control over health destiny in these patients.
  • Determine the effect of this program on the performance of these patients in school.
  • Determine the effect of this program in alleviating psychological distress in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

  • Phase I: Students, family members, teachers, and health providers participate in focus groups to provide system design and implementation input and to assess overall acceptability of a prototype Internet-based application for pediatric cancer patients.

  • Phase II: Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 groups, based on participating center.

    • Group 1: Patients have access to and utilize the Internet-based application @neWorld.
    • Group 2: Patients do not have access to or utilize @neWorld. In both groups, patients complete questionnaires measuring psychological distress, quality of life, self-esteem, coping behaviors, perceived academic and social competence, perceived social support, cancer-relevant medical knowledge, feelings of control over health destiny, utilization of psychological services, and performance in school at baseline and 3 and 6 months.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 94 patients (44 for group 1 and 50 for group 2) will be accrued for this study.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

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
    • Illinois
      • Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States, 60014
        • Leap of Faith Technologies, Incorporated

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

10 years to 15 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Diagnosis of cancer
  • Currently receiving treatment for cancer

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

  • 10 to 15

Performance status

  • Active

Life expectancy

  • Not specified

Hematopoietic

  • Not specified

Hepatic

  • Not specified

Renal

  • Not specified

Other

  • Able to read and speak English

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

  • Not specified

Chemotherapy

  • Not specified

Endocrine therapy

  • Not specified

Radiotherapy

  • Not specified

Surgery

  • Not specified

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?

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Leap of Faith Technologies

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Barbara Rapchak, Leap of Faith Technologies

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

April 1, 2003

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 3, 2003

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2003

First Posted (Estimate)

October 7, 2003

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 15, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2013

Last Verified

December 1, 2004

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • LFT-NEWORLD
  • CDR0000334398 (Registry Identifier: PDQ (Physician Data Query))
  • WCCC-2000-194

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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