Compassion Cultivation Training for Nurses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program for oncology nurses at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. The goal of CCT is to provide a structured and systematic way of cultivating daily-life skills needed to strengthen qualities of compassion, empathy, and kindness for oneself and others. CCT typically includes (i) eight weekly 2-hour classes and (ii) daily practice. The in-class activities include pedagogical instruction and active group discussion, guided meditation, interactive practical exercises, and sharing of inspiring readings/stories to prime feelings of open-heartedness or connection to others.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Feasibility
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: compassion cultivation training

Detailed Description

The Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) protocol is a secular course that was developed by the Center for Compassion & Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, School of Medicine (Jinpa, 2013). The course was developed by Thupten Jinpa, PhD, in collaboration with contemplative scholars, psychologists, and scientist at Stanford. The goal of CCT is to provide a structured and systematic way of cultivating daily-life skills needed to strengthen qualities of compassion, empathy, and kindness for oneself and others. CCT typically includes (i) eight weekly 2-hour classes and (ii) daily practice. The in-class activities include pedagogical instruction and active group discussion, guided meditation, interactive practical exercises, and sharing of inspiring readings/stories to prime feelings of open-heartedness or connection to others. The daily practice includes both formal and informal practices. Participants are provided with formal guided meditations that are 15 to 30 minutes long in the form of MP3 or cds. Participants may receive practices and instructions via email with a link to the location of the MP3. They will be provided with practice logs to report their amount of practice as well as some basic observations to the research team. In the present study, we will follow the official CCT manual. The training is composed of 8 sessions, which can be delivered in 7-10 weeks.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 16
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Miami, Florida, United States, 33136
      • Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Be 18 years of age or older
2. Be willing and able to give informed consent
3. Be a Registered Nurse (RN)
4. Currently works at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
5. Currently works at least 20 hours/week
6. Be able to speak and read English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Any participants who are deemed to present an acute safety risk to self or others.
2. Any infants, children, or teenagers under 18 years of age.
3. Prisoners

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Single-Arm Intervention; All participants in this arm receive compassion cultivation training	Behavioral: compassion cultivation training; Eight 2-hour group sessions that provide a structured and systematic way of cultivating daily-life skills needed to strengthen qualities of compassion, empathy, and kindness for oneself and others.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of individuals who do not drop out of the study prior to completing the post-intervention assessment	Number of individuals who do not drop out of the study prior to completing the post-intervention assessment	24 weeks after first session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale	self-report instrument that measures perceptions of stress	baseline and 7-10 weeks
Maslach Burnout Inventory	self-report instrument that measures emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and acheivement	baseline and 7-10 weeks
Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale	self-report instrument that measures present moment awareness and acceptance	baseline and 7-10 weeks
Distress Tolerance Scale	self-report instrument that measures feelings of distress	baseline and 7-10 weeks
SF-36	self-report measure of health-related quality of life	baseline and 7-10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Miami
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Debbie Anglade, PhD, University of Miami

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 27, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 2, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): August 2, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 5, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 13, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): September 18, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 6, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 2, 2018
• Last Verified: August 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 20170290

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