Perceptions of Burden in Patients With Late-Stage Cancer and Their Caregivers

May 27, 2015 updated by: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Perception of Caregiver Burden

RATIONALE: Gathering information over time about patients' sense of being a burden on their caregiver, and caregivers' sense of burden on themselves, may help doctors learn more about the desire to die in patients with late-stage cancer.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying perceptions of burden in patients with late-stage cancer and their caregivers.

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

  • To measure psychosocial correlates of desire for hastened death (DHD) and change in DHD in patients with late-stage cancer by examining the relationship among a patient's perception of being a burden, their caregiver's perceptions of the patient's burdensomeness, and DHD changes over time.

Secondary

  • To identify coping and personality factors in both caregivers and patients that may be related to the patients' DHD and changes in their DHD.

OUTLINE: Patients and caregiver dyads complete questionnaires at baseline, 2 months, and 4 months. The dyads complete demographic questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Patients also complete the Schedule of Attitudes Toward Hastened Death (SAHD), the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief COPE), the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF), and the Caregiver Demands Scale (CDS). Caregivers also complete the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL).

Patients' medical charts are reviewed for stage and node status at primary diagnosis, previous oncology surgeries, previous adjuvant treatments, treatment at time of recurrence, disease free interval, site of metastasis, and response to current treatment.

Study Type

Observational

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Caregivers and patients with late-stage oncological disease.

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Meets 1 of the following criteria

    • Patient with a diagnosis of cancer

      • Confirmed late-stage disease refractory to standard primary therapy
      • Reside with a non-paid primary caregiver
      • Receiving care at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey

    • Caregiver

      • Must be at least 18 years old

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Life expectancy ≥ 4 months
  • No documented or observable cognitive (e.g., dementia) or psychiatric (e.g., psychosis) problems that would interfere with study participation
  • Able to read and write English (patient and caregiver)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

  • 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?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Relationship between patient's sense of being a burden on primary caregiver & increase in patient desire for hastened death (DHD) by Caregiver Demands Scale (CDS) at baseline & Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death (SAHD) at 2 & 4 mo.
Contribution of the caregiver's sense of caregiver burden, as measured by the caregiver version of the CDS at baseline, on increases in patient DHD over time

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Identification of coping and personality factors in both caregivers and patients that may be related to the patients' DHD and changes in their DHD

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Linda Patrick-Miller, PhD, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

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

May 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 9, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 9, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

October 10, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 29, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 27, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 130601
  • P30CA072720 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • CDR0000597594
  • CINJ-IRB-0220080083

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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