Expressive Helping for Chinese-Speaking Cancer Patients and Survivors

Feasibility of Expressive Helping for Chinese-Speaking Cancer Patients and Survivors

This study examines the feasibility, cultural-sensitivity, and health effects of the expressive helping intervention by conducting a single-arm trial with Chinese-speaking cancer patients and survivors.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Neoplasms; Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Expressive Helping

Detailed Description

This study examines whether expressive helping is feasible and culturally-sensitive for Chinese American cancer patients and survivors. For 20 minutes each week over four weeks, participants choose to write or voice-record their thoughts about cancer by following specific prompts designed to help them process their cancer experiences. During the last week of this reflection exercise, participants write or voice-record an anonymous letter to another Chinese cancer patient by sharing their cancer experience and providing advice and encouragement. Health outcomes are assessed at baseline, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups. A subset of the participants will be invited to share their experiences with the study through qualitative interviews after the last writing/voice-recording session. This research study provides an opportunity for Chinese American cancer patients and survivors to express their feelings without the fear of burdening others, and give them an opportunity to help others by sharing their cancer experiences.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10003
      • New York University

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:

• Diagnosis of cancer (any type)
• Of Chinese descent
• Over the age of 18
• Can speaking and read Mandarin Chinese

Exclusion Criteria:

• Completed primary cancer treatment more than five years ago

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: Expressive Helping; Participants complete four 20-minute writing/voice-recording sessions spaced one week apart. During the first week, the instructions will explain that cancer patients and survivors benefit from learning about other cancer survivors' experiences. They are told that the first three weeks of writing/voice-recording (writing/talking about their stress and coping at Week 1, deepest emotions about cancer at Week 2, self-affirmation and benefit finding at Week 3) are exercises designed to help them think about their cancer experiences and to prepare them to write/record the narrative they would share on Week 4. During Week 4, they are asked to write/record a narrative as if they are speaking to another Chinese person with cancer, adding advice and encouragements, and reminded that their writing/recording would be shared with other Chinese American cancer patients and survivors.

Behavioral: Expressive Helping; Expressive helping harnesses the benefits of helping others (e.g., support giving) through writing or voice-recording. Expressive helping integrates two distinct areas of research showing that writing or speaking about ones' negative experiences and engaging in support giving behaviors can improve psychological well-being.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants screened	The number of participants screened for eligibility will be counted.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Compliance rate	Compliance rate is calculated by dividing the number of writing/voice-recording sessions finished by the number of sessions assigned.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Retention rate	Retention rate is calculated by dividing the number of participants who began the study by the number of participants who finished the entire study.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Meaningfulness of the study	We will ask participants open-ended questions about whether they felt participating in this study was meaningful to them.	This will be assessed approximately four weeks after the baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in quality of life as assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale (FACT).	The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale (FACT) is a 27-item measure of health-related quality of life (Cella & Tulsky,1993). This scale assesses contains four different subscales, including physical well-being (7 items), social well-being (7 items), emotional well-being (6 items), and functional well-being (7 items).	Baseline; 1-month follow-up; 3-month follow-up
Change in depressive symptoms as assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).	The CES-D (Radloff, 1977) is a 20-item measure of depressive symptoms.	Baseline; 1-month follow-up; 3-month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: New York University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 20, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 30, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 7, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 8, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): May 10, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 3, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2022
• Last Verified: March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 19-0612

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