Digital Art Therapy for Young Cancer Survivors

Feasibility of a Digital Art Therapy Application Designed to Improve Quality of Life in Young Cancer Survivors

This is a single-site, single-arm, interventional study assessing the feasibility of the ARTCan Therapy Application (App) and whether it is an acceptable means of administering art therapy to young adult cancer survivors. The ARTCan Therapy App guides participants through a 6-week digital art therapy program. Subjects will participate in weekly art therapy prompts guided by the app and will complete weekly mental health quality of life (MHQoL) surveys during the intervention. In addition, baseline and end-of-intervention patient-reported outcome measures (PROMIS-DSF8a) and an acceptability survey will be administered. The hypothesis is that digital art therapy is feasible for young adult cancer survivors with self-reported mood issues and is an acceptable means of administering art therapy in the patient population.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cancer; Pediatric Cancer; Pediatric Malignancies; Pediatric Sarcoma of Soft Tissue; Adolescent and Young Adult With Brain Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: ARTCan App

Detailed Description

The ARTCan application has been designed to define therapy strategies for the care of patients; it emerges from a unique collaboration in the disciplines of design, art, art therapy, and medicine from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The relevance of the application design was to enable the trans-disciplinary team to experiment with proof of the following concepts: 1) technology-based tools and feasibility studies for new lines of research in treatment; 2) research that embraces intellectual diversity by merging the creative disciplines; and 3) addressing issues of health and well-being of patients. This study is testing whether the digital art therapy application "Art Therapy Can Do" (ARTCan) is a feasible means of administering art therapy to young cancer survivors. The study is funded by the Ian's Friends Foundation and the Weatherspoon Foundation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 15
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Devin McCarthy; Phone Number: 919-445-4208; Email: devin_mccarthy@med.unc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Patricia Brock; Phone Number: 919-962-8491; Email: patriciabrock@med.unc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599
      • Recruiting
      • Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
      • Contact: Devine McCarthy; Phone Number: 919-445-4208; Email: devin_mccarthy@med.unc.edu
      • Contact: Patricia Brock; Phone Number: +1 919-962-8491; Email: patricia_brock@med.unc.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Soma Sengupta, MD
      • Sub-Investigator: Bridget Pemberton-Smith, LLC
      • Sub-Investigator: Zev Nakamura, MD
      • Sub-Investigator: Claudia Rebola
      • Sub-Investigator: Heekyoung Jung

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

In order to participate in this study a subject must meet all of the eligibility criteria outlined below.

• Written informed assent and parental consent obtained to participate in the study and HIPAA authorization for release of personal health information.
• Subject is willing and able to comply with study procedures based on the judgment of the investigator.
• Age 18-25 years at the time of consent.
• Childhood cancer survivor, defined as having cancer between birth 17 years of age and who has completed cancer treatment.
• Reliable internet connection and access to a computer, smartphone, or iPad to support application and virtual study visits.
• Answers "yes" to the question "Do you experience mood issues (yes or no)?".

Exclusion Criteria:

• All subjects meeting any of the exclusion criteria at baseline will be excluded from study participation.
• Patients who lack interest in art. Screening question: Are you open to making art on a scale from 1-5 (1 being not at all, and 5 being very much; must score 3 or higher).
• Subjects who lack basic technology skills (Screening question: On a scale of 1-5 (1 being uncomfortable, and 5 being very comfortable), how would you rate your comfort using websites. Must score 3 or higher).
• Subjects unable to provide consent.
• Other conditions or factors which in the opinion of the Pl would not make the patient a good candidate for the study.

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: Digital Art Therapy; All participants will receive art therapy via the ARTCan App for 6 weeks, and will also be prompted to complete mental health quality of life surveys at baseline and each week, which will be available for the therapist to review.

Behavioral: ARTCan App; The ARTCan App is an art therapy technology application program. The application can be accessed via the web (via computer, phone, or on a device such as an iPad). With the use of the application, participants complete weekly sessions that culminate in an "art" piece. Note that participants are not required to have expertise in drawing; developing art skills or assessing the quality of art pieces is not the focus of the ARTCan program. Subjects will upload a photo of the art they created to this application to show proof of completion of art therapy. They will also answer questions specific to the art therapy theme for the week.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of art therapy	The feasibility of art therapy will be determined by the proportion of participants who complete art therapy. The proportion of participants who complete 4 of the 6 art therapy modules will be determined. A completion rate of 10 out of 15 participants will be deemed feasible.	Up to 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability of art therapy	Acceptability of art therapy will be measured as the proportion of participants responded to the survey questionnaire administered at the end of the intervention. The survey questionnaire will be taken via a web-based application as post- Intervention Assessment. Question: 1) Please provide your impression of the ARTCan App: A) I like the App B) I don't like the.	at 6 week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Collaborators: Ian's Friends Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Soma Sengupta, MD, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Clinical trials at UNC Lineberger

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 7, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 17, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): January 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 16, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 15, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: therapy; patient-reported outcome; art; mental health quality of life; ARTCan application; digital art therapy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Nervous System Neoplasms; Central Nervous System Neoplasms; Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: LCCC2339

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