Emotional Support Messages Following a Cancer Diagnosis

November 24, 2020 updated by: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute
Cancer patients will be randomly shown one of 18 emotional support messages created by the research team that differ based on how much of the message consists of positive statements and how much consists of negative statements. The messages with negative statements also differ based on whether the negative statements occur at the start or end of the message. After viewing the message, participants have the opportunity to rate the effectiveness of the message, to what extent the message made them feel better, and to what extent the message affects how they view the message provider as a useful source of emotional support.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

417

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
    • Florida
      • Tampa, Florida, United States, 33612
        • H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

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

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Adult cancer patients

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants must be 18 years of age or older
  • Participants with a diagnosis of breast, prostate, thoracic or digestive cancer in the past 3 years
  • Participants consented to Moffitt's Total Cancer Care (TCC) protocol and indicating a willingness to be contacted for future research by including an email contact.
  • Ability to read and write fluently in English

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

  • Observational Models: Case-Control
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
All Participants
All participants will take an online questionnaire which includes their evaluation of one of 18 different emotional support messages randomly assigned through the Qualtrics survey system. The participants answer a series of closed ended scales regarding quality of the support message, supporter's competence, amount of emotional improvement they experienced after reading the message, and likelihood to seek support from the person writing the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 1a
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the last 20% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 1b
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the first 20% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 2a
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the last 40% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 2b
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the first 40% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 3a
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the last 60% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 3b
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the first 60% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 4a
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the last 80% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.
Behavioral: Questionnaire 4b
Participants will be randomly shown two versions of messages in which the first 80% of the message consists of negative statements of criticism and rate of the effectiveness of the message.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Message Effectiveness Scale
Time Frame: Through study completion, up to 1 year
Perceptions of message effectiveness will be tested through 4 ANOVA models that will test for differences between participants who received different messages in terms of perceived message effectiveness.
Through study completion, up to 1 year
Affective Improvement Scale
Time Frame: Through study completion, up to 1 year
Perceptions of message effectiveness will be tested through 4 ANOVA models that will test for differences between participants who received different messages in terms of self-reports of emotional improvement.
Through study completion, up to 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Supporter Competence Scale
Time Frame: Through study completion, up to 1 year
Perceptions of message effectiveness will be tested through 4 ANOVA models that will test for differences between participants who received different messages in terms of perceptions of supporter competence.
Through study completion, up to 1 year
Likelihood of Seeking Support Scale
Time Frame: Through study completion, up to 1 year
Perceptions of message effectiveness will be tested through 4 ANOVA models that will test for differences between participants who received different messages in terms of their likelihood to seek support from the supporter in the future.
Through study completion, up to 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Collaborators

San Diego State University
University of Minnesota
University of Arizona

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Maija Reblin, PhD, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

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.

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 (Actual)

January 30, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 10, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

November 24, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 11, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 12, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

February 15, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 25, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 24, 2020

Last Verified

November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MCC-19957

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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