Cannabis and Cancer, an Online Training for Oncology Nurses

Evaluation of a Digital Educational Intervention Regarding Safe and Efficient Cannabis Use with Young Adults Diagnosed with Cancer: a Pilot Study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the preliminary effects and impacts of a digital educational intervention to support nurses' professional practice regarding safe cannabis use by young adults (18-39 years) diagnosed with cancer.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cannabis Use; Nurse's Role; Symptoms and Signs; Cannabis Use, Unspecified; Oncology Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Cannabis & Cancer digital educational intervention; Other: Standard information regarding cannabis use in oncology

Detailed Description

This online pilot randomized controlled trial with parallel groups is conducted in Quebec (Canada). Moodle learning management system will be used to train nurses working in oncology.

After accepting the conditions and consenting, participants will enroll in the study by providing an email address. Each participant will be validated through an email address check. After their enrolment, participants will receive a hyperlink via email to invite them to complete a baseline questionnaire.

After completing the baseline questionnaire, participants will be randomly assigned by a research assistant to the digital educational intervention (Cannabis & Cancer) or to a control group (official public websites and scientific articles).

Four weeks after the baseline questionnaire, participants will complete the online questionnaires again.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 70
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Quebec
    • Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H1T 2M4
      • Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 66 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Work in an oncology department (eg, radio-oncology, outpatient clinics)
• Work with people diagnosed with cancer, including young adults
• Understand, read, and write French

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cannabis & Cancer digital educational intervention; This intervention includes different asynchronous pedagogical modalities that allow, among other things, to reactivate the participants' previous knowledge and promote their autonomy in their learning process. These modalities focus on various problems that oncology nurses may encounter about the use of cannabis in oncology (eg, how to tackle the subject, what are the correct times to approach the topic). To this end, various pedagogical modalities that encourage the active participation of nurses are integrated into the training (eg, interactive videos, and quizzes). Scientific articles and links to external resources (official public websites) are also included so that nurses can consult the content at their own pace. Different aspects related to the use of cannabis are addressed in the training (eg, beneficial effects, and potential side effects).	Other: Cannabis & Cancer digital educational intervention; The Cannabis & Cancer intervention is available on Moodle learning management system in French language. It aims to influence nurses' self-efficacy, attitudes, intentions, and knowledge regarding the safe and efficient use of cannabis by young adults diagnosed with cancer.
Active Comparator: Standard information regarding cannabis use in oncology; The comparator is composed of an email with basic reliable non-personalized information on cannabis use in oncology (official public websites and scientific articles).	Other: Standard information regarding cannabis use in oncology; Participants will be offered basic reliable non-personalized information on cannabis use in oncology (official public websites and scientific articles).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in self-efficacy	The French version of the Continuing Professional Development Reaction (CPD-Reaction) questionnaire (Légaré et al., 2014) will be used. The CPD-Reaction is a 12-item theory-based self-report questionnaire designed to assess the impact of continuing professional development on different clinical practices and can be modified according to the behavior targeted by the continuing professional activity (ie, the Cannabis & Cancer intervention). It is scored using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The total score can range from 3 to 21 for self-efficacy. Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-efficacy. The CPD Reaction has adequate test-retest reliability (ie, weighted kappa coefficient between 0.43-0.53 for self-efficacy). The questionnaire has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84).	4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in attitudes	The French version of the Continuing Professional Development Reaction (CPD-Reaction) questionnaire (Légaré et al., 2014) will be used. The CPD-Reaction is a 12-item theory-based self-report questionnaire designed to assess the impact of continuing professional development on different clinical practices and can be modified according to the behavior targeted by the continuing professional activity (ie, the Cannabis & Cancer intervention). It is scored using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The total score can range from 2 to 14 for attitudes. Higher scores indicate more favorable attitudes toward the behavior. The CPD Reaction has adequate test-retest reliability (ie, weighted kappa coefficient between 0.5-0.54 for attitudes). The questionnaire has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89).	4 weeks
Change in intention	The French version of the Continuing Professional Development Reaction (CPD-Reaction) questionnaire (Légaré et al., 2014) will be used. The CPD-Reaction is a 12-item theory-based self-report questionnaire designed to assess the impact of continuing professional development on different clinical practices and can be modified according to the behavior targeted by the continuing professional activity (ie, the Cannabis & Cancer intervention). It is scored using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The total score can range from 2 to 14 for intention. Higher scores indicate higher intentions to perform the behavior. The CPD Reaction has adequate test-retest reliability (ie, weighted kappa coefficient between 0.54-0.6 for intention). The questionnaire has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79).	4 weeks
Change in knowledge	Nurses' knowledge will be assessed using a seven-point Likert scale (ie, 1=strongly disagree and 7=strongly agree) to be developed by the research team based on the educational content presented in the training.	4 weeks
Number of training modules completed by participants (objective engagement)	Objective data. This data will be collected automatically when users log into the learning management system.	4 weeks
Frequency of viewing modules/participants (objective engagement)	Objective data. This data will be collected automatically when users log into the learning management system.	4 weeks
Number of logins to the digital educational intervention/participant (objective engagement)	Objective data. This data will be collected automatically when users log into the learning management system.	4 weeks
Time required to complete all training modules (objective engagement)	Objective data. This data will be collected automatically when users log into the learning management system.	4 weeks
Subjective engagement with the digital educational intervention	Subjective engagement (self-reported) will be measured using the validated French version (Fontaine et al., 2020) of the User Engagement Scale - Short Form (UES-SF) (O'Brien et al., 2018). This 12-item instrument serves to measure four dimensions of engagement: 1) aesthetic appeal; 2) focused attention; 3) perceived usability, and 4) reward factor. Possible answers range from strongly disagree (+1) to strongly agree (+5). The possible total score ranges between 12 and 60. The score for each item will be interpreted and the scores for each dimension will be compared to indicate which are rated more highly than others. The French version shows acceptable internal consistency (ie, McDonald's omega coefficients ranging from 0.77-0.89).	4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ciusss de L'Est de l'Île de Montréal
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Karine Bilodeau, PhD, Université de Montréal; Principal Investigator: José Côté, Université de Montréal; Principal Investigator: Billy Vinette, MSN, Univer

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 4, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 18, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): May 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 15, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 15, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): December 23, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 12, 2025
• Last Verified: February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Cancer Pain; Neoplasms; Marijuana Abuse
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022-2802

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No