Study of Stepped Palliative Care in Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer DF/HCC SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL RESERACH PROTOCOL

March 7, 2019 updated by: Jennifer Temel, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Pilot Study of Stepped Palliative Care in Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer DF/HCC SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL RESERACH PROTOCOL

This research study is evaluating a new way to provide palliative care to patients who have recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. . Palliative care is a medical specialty focused on lessening (or "palliating") patients' symptoms and helping patients and their families cope with a serious illness.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients with serious cancers, like advanced lung cancer, often experience physical symptoms, such as pain or shortness of breath. Both patients and their families often feel worried and/or sad about this diagnosis. Research has shown that early involvement of a team of clinicians that specialize in lessening (or palliating) many of these distressing physical and emotional symptoms, and in helping patients and their families' cope with serious illnesses, improves patients' quality of life and mood, and can help their loved ones' feel less depressed or sad. This team is called "palliative care," and consists of physicians and advanced practice nurses who work closely and collaboratively with the oncology team to care for the patient and their loved ones.

While the investigators know having palliative care clinicians care for patients along with their oncology team is helpful for the participant and their loved ones, the investigators do not know the optimal timing of the visits with palliative care.

The purpose of this study is to see if the investigators can closely monitor participants' health condition and quality of life and use these metrics as indications of when the participant should see the palliative care team.

This study will monitor participants' health condition and schedule the participant to see the palliative care team if the participants' cancer grows or after the participant have been admitted to the hospital. The investigators will also monitor participants' quality of life every six weeks and schedule the participant to see the palliative care monthly if the participant quality of life decreases during the study.

This study will also monitor participants' mood, coping, and understanding of the participant illness and prognosis. The investigators will ask the participant to fill out questionnaires asking about these topics every 12 weeks. The participant will be able to complete these questionnaires in clinic, via email, using a mailed paper copy, or over the phone with a member of the research team.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

11

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
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Massachusetts General Hospital

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:

  • Diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, or mesothelioma, being treated with non-curative intent, and informed of advanced disease within the prior eight weeks
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status from 0 (asymptomatic) to 2 (symptomatic and in bed <50% of the day)
  • The ability to read and respond to questions in English or with minimal help from a family member or medical interpreter.
  • Primary cancer care at the MGH Cancer Center
  • Age > 18 years

Exclusion Criteria:

  • They are already receiving PC or hospice services
  • They have cognitive or psychiatric conditions as determined by the treating oncologist that prohibits study consent or participation

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Stepped Palliative Care
All participants will receive palliative care Participants will complete the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) every six weeks FACT-L scores will be used to determine which patients need to step up to every 6 week palliative care visits Patients on step 1 of the intervention will have a palliative care visit every 9 weeks Patients on step 2 of the intervention will have a palliative care visit every 6 weeks
Other: Stepped Palliative Care
Palliative care clinicians will develop a therapeutic relationship with participants and address their symptoms, coping, prognostic awareness and illness understanding, treatment decision-making, and end of life care needs and preferences.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of participants who complete the study protocol
Time Frame: 2 years
The investigators will determine that the study protocol is feasible if at least 75% of participants on step 2 of the intervention complete at least 70% of the scheduled palliative care visits.
2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

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 (Actual)

July 18, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 22, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

January 29, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 10, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 14, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

July 18, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 8, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 7, 2019

Last Verified

March 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-284

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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