The Efficacy of Health Navigation® for Cancer-Related Fatigue in Cancer Survivors

October 26, 2010 updated by: National Cancer Center, Korea

The Efficacy of Web-based, Tailored Program(Health Navigation®) for the Management of Cancer-Related Fatigue in Cancer Survivors

The objective of this study is

  1. to develop a web-based, tailored program for Cancer-related fatigue in cancer survivors, which is comprehensive and evidence-based,
  2. to evaluate the efficacy for cancer-related fatigue as a result of participating in the Web based, tailored program(Health Navigation®) for 12 weeks
  3. to evaluate the efficacy for quality of life, fatigue-related behavior, satisfaction with the treatment as a result of participating in the Web based, tailored program(health navigation®) for 12 weeks
  4. to assess the efficacy of such intervention compared with usual care in cancer survivors

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

*** Background

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and its impact on patients' quality of life has been increasing subject of research. Especially, cancer survivors who are complaining of fatigue (moderate - severe) should be cared.

Multidimensional characteristics of CRF were addressed in the NCCN guideline for CRF, and NCCN guideline points out the importance of behavioral approaches in managing of CRF.

NCCN guideline in 2008 suggests that 6 strategic areas (1) Energy Conservation, 2) Pain 3) Sleep disturbance 4) Distress 5) exercise, 6) Nutrition) are important issues in caring CRF in addition to the medical treatment caring chronic disease or co morbidity.

Behavioral strategy can lead those 6 areas to be effective.

However, to our knowledge, no study has examined the comprehensive fatigue management program.

The objective of this study is to develop the Web based, tailored program(Health Navigation®) for disease-free cancer patients to cope with CRF, and then evaluate the efficacy of the Web-based program(Health Navigation®).

From evidence extracted from a literature review, contents of the program was elaborated, and tailored from the TTM model. The curriculum is currently being reviewed and validated by an expert group of palliative care physician, oncologists, nurse, psychologist and health education scientists. The module will be pretested with a small number of patients, discussed in terms of feasibility and acceptance.

*** Method

To determine the efficacy of the program(Health Navigation®), a randomized controlled trial will be conducted:

After excluding patients with other causes (anemia, thyroid diseases, liver disease, co morbidities etc), 296 patients will be recruited based on statistical assumption of alpha (0.05), beta (0.20=power 80%), effect size (0.375) and drop out rate (10%).

First, they will be stratified according to their age (<50 vs. >50) and sex (male vs. female), cancer type (type 1: stomach cancer & colon cancer, type 2: Cervix & Breast cancer & Thyroid, type 3 : Lung cancer ), cancer stage (I-III) ; and then allocated to an intervention or a wait-list control group.

When intervention group participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®), they can receive various information which is related with the CRF.

And Web-based fatigue care program consists of 6 strategic areas (energy conservation, nutrition, exercise, sleep disturbance, pain, and distress); three areas (pain, exercise, sleep disturbance) are based on the transtheoretical model (TTM), and others (energy conservation, distress, nutrition) are based on psycho-education method or cognitive behavioral therapy. Cancer survivors who participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®) will be received tailored EMS/SMS message that notify participants of the next program's news and the last program's issue etc.

Their assistants (family member or friend) help them change their behaviors. Wait-list (control) group could not participate in the fatigue-care program (based on the Web based care program: Health Navigation®).

They could only be treated by usual care and use internet for health information. However, they can participate in the fatigue care program (Health Navigation®) after 12 weeks.

Data will be collected before randomization, after intervention, and after a follow-up of 6 months.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

266

Phase

  • Phase 2

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

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

20 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult (≥20, ≤65)
  • moderate to severe fatigue (fatigue VAS ≥4), which persists at least 1 week in the Average Fatigue or the the Worst Fatigue
  • Stage I-III
  • Within 24 months of completion of primary treatment with curative intent (Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy)
  • Cancer survivors who are familiar with the high-speed internet and mobile phone, or cancer survivors who can participate in the web-based program with their supporter's assistance.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • patients undergoing or planning surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy
  • Major health problem which might cause fatigue or in which exercise/nutrition intervention is contraindicated at the discretion of clinician; from PAR-Q and ACSM test, cardiovascular disease(congestive heart failure, angina), pulmonary disease(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, restrictive pulmonary disease), uncontrolled hypertension, poorly controlled diabetes and severe musculoskeletal disease and so on
  • Sign of infection (body temperature ≥ 37.2℃, WBC≥11,000)
  • Thrombocytopenia (platelet count ≤ 100,000/mcl)
  • Anemia (Hb ≤ 10g/dL)
  • SGOT or SGPT > 40 IU/L
  • Creatinine > 1.4 mg/dL
  • severe psychiatric disorders (psychotic disorder, major depression and so on) or suicidal tendencies
  • dyspnea
  • evidence of metastasis and recurrence
  • ECOG(Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status of 3-4
  • Not Korean speaking
  • Not understanding of the study purpose and not written informed consent

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: A

Providing tailored web-based care program(Health Navigation®), which provides various information related to the CRF.

Web-based fatigue care program consists of 6 strategic areas (energy conservation, nutrition, exercise, sleep disturbance, pain, and distress); three areas (pain, exercise, sleep disturbance) are based on the transtheoretical model (TTM), and others (energy conservation, distress, nutrition) are based on psycho-education method or cognitive behavioral therapy. Cancer survivors who participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®) will be received tailored EMS/SMS message that notify participants of the next program's news and the last program's issue etc.
Behavioral: Tailored web-based care program (Health Navigation®)
When intervention group participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®), they can receive various information which is related with the CRF. Web-based fatigue care program consists of 6 strategic areas (energy conservation, nutrition, exercise, sleep disturbance, pain, and distress); three areas (pain, exercise, sleep disturbance) are based on the transtheoretical model (TTM), and others (energy conservation, distress, nutrition) are based on psycho-education method or cognitive behavioral therapy. Cancer survivors who participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®) will be received tailored EMS/SMS message that notify participants of the next program's news and the last program's issue.
Other Names:
  • Non-tailored usual care service
Other: B
Attention control arm: Providing usual care for CRF. Three months later, as attention control, they will be provided tailored web-based care program(Health Navigation®), which provides various information related to the CRF.
Behavioral: Tailored web-based care program (Health Navigation®)
When intervention group participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®), they can receive various information which is related with the CRF. Web-based fatigue care program consists of 6 strategic areas (energy conservation, nutrition, exercise, sleep disturbance, pain, and distress); three areas (pain, exercise, sleep disturbance) are based on the transtheoretical model (TTM), and others (energy conservation, distress, nutrition) are based on psycho-education method or cognitive behavioral therapy. Cancer survivors who participate in the Web-based care program (Health Navigation®) will be received tailored EMS/SMS message that notify participants of the next program's news and the last program's issue.
Other Names:
  • Non-tailored usual care service

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Score of fatigue Severity
Time Frame: 24 weeks
BFI and FSS
24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mean scores of symptom scores
Time Frame: 24 weeks
24 weeks
Scores of EORTC QLQ-C30
Time Frame: 24 weeks
24 weeks
stage of readiness
Time Frame: 24 weeks
stage of readiness(physical activity, nutrition, sleep hygiene, distress, pain control, energy conservation)
24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Cancer Center, Korea

Collaborators

Samsung Medical Center
Seoul National University Hospital
Korea University Anam Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Youngho Yun, Ph.D, National Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

July 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2010

Study Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 21, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 26, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

October 27, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 27, 2010

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 26, 2010

Last Verified

June 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NCC-YoungHo

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.

Clinical Trials on Cancer-related Fatigue

Clinical Trials on Tailored web-based care program (Health Navigation®)

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Montenegro

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe