Evaluation of a Social-networking Intervention to Reduce Cancer-related Distress

May 21, 2014 updated by: Jason Owen, Phd., Loma Linda University
It is hypothesized that the treatment group will show greater improvements in quality of life and mood disturbance compared to the control group and that greater levels of engagement with the intervention materials will be associated with greater improvements in mood and quality of life.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Individuals with cancer face an array of psychosocial needs, and it has been estimated that up to 35% of cancer survivors experience clinically-significant levels of distress. Psychosocial interventions may be effective for improving quality of life and reducing levels of mood disturbance in these patients. Unfortunately, barriers to accessing psychosocial intervention are common, and many are unable to access those services. Internet- based psychosocial interventions improve accessibility of care and offer additional methodological advantages, including the ability to easily collect self-report data, track exposure to the intervention, and evaluate effects of specific intervention components. The proposed study will evaluate whether a website developed specifically for providing psychological treatment and enhancing communication between cancer survivors can improve distress among cancer survivors who indicate that they have high levels of distress. If successful, the study will also provide valuable information needed to improve the treatment and to adequately conduct a larger trial comparing internet-based and face-to-face treatments.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

347

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

  • United States
    • California
      • Loma Linda, California, United States, 92350
        • Loma Linda University

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. at least 18 years of age,
  2. previous cancer diagnosis other than non-melanoma skin cancer,

4) fluent in English, 5) routine access to the Internet, and 6) presence of greater than mild distress as identified by having distress greater than or equal to 4 on initial screening with the Distress Thermometer

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
Active Comparator: Social-networking intervention
Individuals interested in participating in the study will be randomized to receive access to a 12-week internet-based treatment group. Subjects assigned to the treatment group will have access to a group discussion board, a structured 12-week coping-skills training course, professional facilitation of the group, a real-time chat board, and personal profiles established by other group members. Subjects will be asked to complete online self-report measures of distress, mood disturbance, and quality of life at baseline and again after participation in the 12-week group.
Behavioral: online social-networking intervention
Active Comparator: Control group
12 week wait-list control subjects will be able to join a group after they complete the 12-week assessment and will be asked to complete a 24-week assessment in order to measure change over time. Subjects will have access to a group discussion board, a structured 12-week coping-skills training course, professional facilitation of the group, a real-time chat board, and personal profiles established by other group members. Subjects will be asked to complete online self-report measures of distress, mood disturbance, and quality of life at baseline and again after participation in the 12-week group.
Behavioral: online social-networking intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in -Overall Psychological Functioning (OQ-45)
Time Frame: 3-month change
The OQ-45 measures the global functioning of a client and is composed of 3 subscales that measure subjective discomfort (intrapsychic functioning), interpersonal relationships, and social role performance. The OQ-45 has adequate internal consistency (a = .93) and reliability (r = .84) (Lambert, et al., 2004).
3-month change
Change in-Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depress (CES-D) scale
Time Frame: 3-month change
The CES-D is a self-report measure that consists of 20 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale to assess depressive symptoms experienced in the previous week. The CES-D has demonstrated excellent reliability and validity (Radloff, 1977). The standard cutoff score of 16 will be used to identify depression.
3-month change
Anxiety
Time Frame: 3-month change
Anxiety subscale of the brief Profile of Mood States (b-POMS; Shacham, 1983), which utilizes 37 descriptive mood adjectives to describe how a participant felt during the past week on a 5-point Likert scale. Specifically look at anxiety (anx subscale of POMS), vigor (subscale of POMS), and fatigue (subscale of POMS).
3-month change

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fatigue
Time Frame: 3-month change
Fatigue subscale of the Profile of Mood States questionnaire
3-month change
Vigor
Time Frame: 3-month change
Vigor subscale of the Profile of Mood States questionnaire.
3-month change

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Loma Linda University

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jason E Owen, PhD, Loma Linda University

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

Helpful Links

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 (Actual)

May 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 24, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 30, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

November 6, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 22, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2014

Last Verified

May 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 57065
  • PA06-225 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Funding Opportunity Number)

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 Survivors With Clinically Significant Distress

Clinical Trials on online social-networking intervention

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Madagascar

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe