Effect of Physician Attire on Patients' Preference of Physician

Advanced Cancer Patients' Perception of Physician Compassion and Professionalism - A Randomized, Double Blind, Cross Over Trial

The goal of this research study is to learn about the effects of a doctor's characteristics on participant's preference for a doctor. Researchers also want to learn about how a doctor's characteristics affect participant's options about professionalism and compassion.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Malignant Neoplasms of Independent (Primary) Multiple Sites
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Video; Behavioral: Questionnaires

Detailed Description

If participant agrees to take part in this study, participant will be asked to complete 7 questionnaires. These questionnaires ask about participant's gender, date of birth, ethnicity, marital status, level of education, religion, and information about the disease and treatments participant received. Participant will also be asked about any symptoms participant may be having, how much trust participant has in the medical profession in general, how participant feels about the disease, any depression or anxiety participant may have, and participant's level of hopefulness. These questionnaires should take about 6 minutes to complete.

Participant will be shown 2 videos (each 3 minutes long) and then participant will complete questions about each video. Participant will be asked to rate the doctors participant saw on their professionalism and their compassion.

Caregivers will be required to leave the room or stay silent while the participant is watching the videos.

The total time to watch the videos and complete the second set of questionnaires should be about 7 minutes.

Finally, participant will be asked to complete 3 questionnaires about participant's overall preference for a doctor. These questionnaires will take about 5 minutes to complete.

Length of Study Participation:

Participation in this study is complete after participant answers the final questionnaires.

Overall, this study should take about 30 minutes to complete.

This is an investigational study.

Up to 108 participants will be enrolled in this study. All will take part at MD Anderson.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 108
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

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. Advanced cancer diagnosis (locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic disease).
2. Patients presenting as follow-ups only at the outpatient Supportive Care Center.
3. Age >/= 18 years-old
4. English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Altered cognition (as assessed routinely in the Supportive Care Clinic using the Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS), with a score of >/= 7/30).
2. Patients suffering from a severe psychiatric disorder or condition that would significantly interfere with study participation.
3. Patients with hearing and/or visual impairments.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Video 1A; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion. Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.	Behavioral: Video; Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.; Behavioral: Questionnaires; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion.; Other Names: Surveys
Experimental: Video 1B; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion. Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.	Behavioral: Video; Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.; Behavioral: Questionnaires; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion.; Other Names: Surveys
Experimental: Video 2A; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion. Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.	Behavioral: Video; Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.; Behavioral: Questionnaires; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion.; Other Names: Surveys
Experimental: Video 2B; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion. Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.	Behavioral: Video; Participants shown Video 1A or 1B, then shown Video 2A or 2B.; Behavioral: Questionnaires; Questionnaires completed at baseline, after each video viewing, and at completion.; Other Names: Surveys

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Participant's Perception of Physician's Compassion	Participant's rating of physician's compassion assessed by using a validated 5-item tool consisting of five 0-10 numerical rating scales assessing five dimensions: warm-cold, pleasant-unpleasant, compassionate- distant, sensitive- insensitive, and caring-uncaring. The sum of the five scales gives a final score representing physician's compassion on a scale of 0 to 50.	1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Participant's Perception of Physician's Professionalism	Participant's rating of physician's professionalism assessed by using a validated 4-item tool assessing politeness, listening, explaining the condition and treatment to the patient and patient's involvement in treatment decisions. Participant rates from poor-1 to very good-5. The sum of these 4 items gives a final score representing physician's level of professionalism on a scale of 4 to 20.	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ahsan Azhar, MD, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 25, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 26, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): October 26, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 25, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): May 30, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 13, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 11, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Advanced Cancer; Questionnaires; Surveys; Malignant neoplasms of independent (primary) multiple sites; Videos
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2016-0970; NCI-2018-01195 (Registry Identifier: NCI CTRP)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No