A Chaplain-clinician Led Spiritual Care (PEACE) Intervention on Spiritual/Religious Beliefs Related to Medical Care in Patients With Advanced Cancer: a Pilot Clinical Trial

April 6, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
To examine the feasibility and acceptability of chaplain-clinician led spiritual care (PEACE: Perception, Exploring, Addressing, Compassionate Connection, Embracing) intervention in patients with advanced cancer.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Primary Objectives

(Phase 1): To examine the feasibility and acceptability of a Chaplain-Clinician led spiritual care (PEACE: Perception, Exploring, Addressing, Compassionate Connection, Embracing) intervention in patients with advanced cancer admitted to a comprehensive cancer center in a single-arm pilot trial. Evaluation of feasibility will be per ≥70% participation in all sessions.

Acceptability will be assessed as ≥70% reporting satisfaction and ≥70% recommending PEACE intervention to others at the post-treatment assessment.

(Phase 2): To examine the within-group change in the influence of spiritual/religious beliefs on medical care (Question 2 in the Religious Beliefs in End-of-Life Medical Care [RBEC] tool: I will accept every possible medical treatment because my faith tells me to do everything I can to stay alive longer) from baseline to post-intervention assessments at 2 + 1 days in participants who participate in the PEACE intervention group and the usual care group.

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

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Recruiting
        • MD Anderson Cancer Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Marvin Delgado Guay, MD

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

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Participants with advanced cancer (locally advanced, metastatic, recurrent, or incurable) seen by the participant supportive/palliative care mobile team at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  2. Respond "somewhat to A great deal" to the question in the RBEC questionnaire "I will accept every possible medical treatment because my faith tells me to do everything I can to stay alive longer".
  3. Participant s aged 18 years or over.
  4. Karnofsky performance status ≥30% at time of inclusion into study.
  5. Normal cognitive status as determined by the supportive care clinicians based on the ability to understand the nature of the study and consent process.
  6. Only English-speaking, as determined by their ability to understand the informed consent, the intervention, and the assessment tools.

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Phase 1
Patients will participate in two PEACE intervention sessions, which will last 30-60 minutes each.
Other: Peace Intervention
Patients will participate in two PEACE intervention sessions, which will last 30-60 minutes each.
Experimental: Phase 2
Usual care is a comprehensive evaluation of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient by the Supportive/Palliative Care medical team
Other: Peace Intervention
Patients will participate in two PEACE intervention sessions, which will last 30-60 minutes each.
Other: Usual Care
Usual care is a comprehensive evaluation of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient by the Supportive/Palliative Care medical team.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
RBEC Questionnaire
Time Frame: Through study completion; an average of 1 year
Through study completion; an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marvin Delgado Guay, MD, 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.

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)

December 22, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 4, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 21, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 24, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025-1052
  • NCI-2025-08254 (Other Identifier: NCI-CTRP Clinical 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

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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