Dyadic Yoga Program for Patients Undergoing Thoracic Radiotherapy and Their Family Caregivers: The Testing of a Mobile Application Delivery

January 7, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
The goal of the trial is to test the usability, feasibility and acceptability of an unsupervised, appbased yoga program for participants undergoing thoracic RT and their caregivers.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Detailed Description

Primary Objective:

The Investigators propose to test the usability, feasibility and acceptability of an unsupervised, app-basedyoga program for patients undergoing thoracic RT and their caregivers. The Investigators specific aims will be carried out in two parts:

Part 1:

• The Investigators will perform the initial usability testing of the working prototypes of both iOS and Android versions to determine whether users can complete the required tasks successfully and independently and to identify problems with navigation and functioning.

The Investigators primary objective is to:

Aim 1: Finalize the working prototype of the yoga app using the feedback of 10 participants-caregiver dyads (mixed-methods study).

Part 2:

• The Investigators will measure feasibility (e.g., consent and retention rates, adherence), usability of the app, and acceptability of the app-based program in 20 newly recruited participants-caregiver dyads. As an exploratory outcome, the investigators include pre- and post-intervention assessments of objective physical function and self-reported QOL. The Investigators will also complete semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data on participants' evaluation of the mobile app and their experience in participating in this research.

Specific aims are:

Aim 1: Examine the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of an app-based yoga program in 20 patient-caregiver dyads (single-arm trial).

Aim 2: Understand the trial participants' experiences with the mobile app delivery including suggestions for improvement using qualitative methods.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Recruiting
        • The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Kathrin Milburey, MA,PHD

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Be diagnosed with a non-small cell lung cancer or esophageal cancer and going to receive at least 24 fractions thoracic RT
  2. Have an ECOG performance status of <2
  3. Have a family caregiver (e.g., spouse, sibling, adult child) willing to participate

Both patient and caregiver must meet all the following criteria:

  1. Be >18 years old
  2. Be able to read and speak English
  3. Be able to provide informed consent
  4. Have regular (self-defined) access to Wi-Fi/High speed internet access

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Experiences cognitive deficits that would impede the completion of self-report instruments as deemed by their attending oncologist
  2. Experiences contraindications to exercise as determined by the clinical team
  3. Regularly (self-defined) participants in a yoga program in the year prior to diagnosis

Participants who participated in part 1 are ineligible to participate in part 2 of this protocol.

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

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Thinking Out Loud Group
Participants will be identified using the electronic clinic appointment systems for the thoracic radiation clinic and prescreened for their date of birth (i.e. minimum 18 years old), disease, treatment schedule, ECOG and other criteria (e.g., exercise intolerance, cognitive deficits).
Participants will complete one thinking out loud session (approx. 60 minutes). The session will be led by a yoga therapist (see below) either in person at the hospital or via Zoom. Individual patients, caregivers or patient-caregiver dyads will attend the session. Each participant will need to either bring their own device or will use an institutional loaner device if no personal device is available. During the session, participants will be asked to download the app from the device appropriate app store and open the app. Then, we will implement the thinking out loud methods asking participants to continuously think out loud, meaning verbalizing their thoughts as they move through the user interface of the app. The sessions will be audio recorded with permission obtained during the consent process. Specific feedback will be requested using a semi-structured interview approach

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Safety and Adverse Events (AEs)
Time Frame: Through study completion; an average of 1 year.
Incidence of Adverse Events, Graded According to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI CTCAE) Version (v) 5.0
Through study completion; an average of 1 year.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kathrin Milbury, MA,PHD, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

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.

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)

May 14, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 17, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 9, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 7, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025-0128
  • NCI-2025-02119 (Other Identifier: NCI-CTRP Clinical Trials Registry)

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

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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