Social Health, Activity Behaviors, and Quality of Life Among Young Adult Cancer Survivors

May 26, 2026 updated by: University of Southern California

Social Health, Activity Behaviors, and Quality of Life Among Young Adult Cancer Survivors: A Longitudinal Study

This study assesses how personal relationships (such as friendships, family relationships, or romantic partners) influence the physical activity (exercise) and well-being of young adult cancer survivors. Researchers also hope to learn how social relationships change after a cancer diagnosis, and how these changes might impact important health behaviors. The information provided may help researchers learn more about better ways to support young cancer patients in the future through interventions that help maintain good social relationships and health levels of physical activity.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Characterize the trajectories of social health in young adult (YA) cancer patients.

II. Investigate the longitudinal associations between social health and activity behaviors in YA cancer patients.

III. Explore the effects of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics on the relationship between social health, activity behaviors, and quality of life.

OUTLINE:

Patients complete surveys over 40 minutes and wear an actigraph GT3X-BT accelerometer continuously for 7 days at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

250

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
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90033
        • Recruiting
        • USC / Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Kimberly Miller
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90033
        • Recruiting
        • Los Angeles General Medical Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Kimberly Miller

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

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients diagnosed and/or treated with cancer between ages 18-39 at University of Southern California (USC) hospitals.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosed and/or treated with cancer between ages 18-39 at USC hospitals.
  • Cancer types prototypical for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and cancer stages I-III; select patients with stage IV disease may be eligible, with approval by the principal investigator (PI) and in consultation with the treating clinician.
  • Must be within three months of a de novo cancer diagnosis at recruitment and on/indicated for curative therapy (any modality). Patients may continue on adjuvant therapy throughout duration of the study.
  • Patients must have anticipated survival of >1-year at time of diagnosis.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of blood malignancies such as leukemias (these cancers have divergent treatment patterns of longer duration than other cancers and are more commonly pediatric cancers). Some early stage lymphomas with favorable prognoses may be eligible, with approval by the PI and in consultation with the treating clinician.
  • Primary language other than English or Spanish.
  • Inability to complete a survey and/or wear an accelerometer either per the patient or in consultation with the clinician's judgment.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Observational (actigraph, surveys)
Patients complete surveys and wear an actigraph GT3X-BT accelerometer continuously for 7 days at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months.
Other: Survey Administration
Complete survey
Other: Medical Device Usage and Evaluation
Wear an actigraph GT3X-BT accelerometer
Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
Complete survey
Other Names:
  • Quality of Life Assessment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of Change in trajectories of social health
Time Frame: Baseline up to 1 year

Social health variables include the number, frequency and duration of hospitalizations, specifics of cancer diagnosis (i.e., stage at diagnosis, pertinent histology, recurrence or progression of disease), chemotherapy type, surgery related to cancer diagnosis, radiation field, immunotherapy type, and other relevant therapies related to cancer treatment.

Changes in above variables will be measured using latent growth curve models to measure latent intercept (initial level), and the latent slope (rate of change) of social health variables during the course of therapy.
Baseline up to 1 year
Rate of Change in trajectories of physical activity
Time Frame: Baseline up to 1 year
Changes will be measured using latent growth curve models to measure latent intercept (initial level) and the latent slope (rate of change) of physical activity during the course of therapy.
Baseline up to 1 year
Rate of Change in trajectories of quality of life
Time Frame: Baseline up to 1 year
Changes will be measured using latent growth curve models to measure latent intercept (initial level) and the latent slope (rate of change) of quality of life during the course of therapy.
Baseline up to 1 year
Moderation by gender
Time Frame: Up to 1 year
Will conduct multi-group analyses by the categories of study moderators (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status [SES], health status). The strengths of group-specific pathways to link social health and activity behaviors to quality of life will be compared using the chi-square (χ2) difference test of model fit. The log-likelihood values with (versus [vs.] without) the equality constraints on the group-specific pathways to determine if the strength of associations estimated in the models significantly differ by the groups of each moderator (e.g., gender: female vs. male).
Up to 1 year
Moderation effect of race/ethnicity
Time Frame: Up to 1 year
Moderation effect is analyzed by the interaction between the independent variable (X), and the moderator variable (Y) in a regression model, where the endpoint is the dependent variable (Z). Moderation effect is the endpoint itself, indicated by the significance of the interaction term's regression coefficient (B3), which shows how the relationship between X and Y changes depending on the level of Z. 'X' is social health, physical activity, and quality of life. 'Y' is race/ethnicity. 'Z' is moderation effect. The strengths of group-specific pathways to link social health and activity behaviors to quality of life will be compared using the chi-square (χ2) difference test of model fit.
Up to 1 year
Moderation effect of Socio-Economic Status (SES)
Time Frame: Up to 1 year
Moderation effect is analyzed by the interaction between the independent variable (X), and the moderator variable (Y) in a regression model, where the endpoint is the dependent variable (Z). Moderation effect is the endpoint itself, indicated by the significance of the interaction term's regression coefficient (B3), which shows how the relationship between X and Y changes depending on the level of Z. 'X' is social health, physical activity, and quality of life. 'Y' is socio-economic status. 'Z' is moderation effect. The strengths of group-specific pathways to link social health and activity behaviors to quality of life will be compared using the chi-square (χ2) difference test of model fit.
Up to 1 year
Moderation effect of health status
Time Frame: Up to 1 year
Moderation effect is analyzed by the interaction between the independent variable (X), and the moderator variable (Y) in a regression model, where the endpoint is the dependent variable (Z). Moderation effect is the endpoint itself, indicated by the significance of the interaction term's regression coefficient (B3), which shows how the relationship between X and Y changes depending on the level of Z. 'X' is social health, physical activity, and quality of life. 'Y' is health status. 'Z' is moderation effect. The strengths of group-specific pathways to link social health and activity behaviors to quality of life will be compared using the chi-square (χ2) difference test of model fit.
Up to 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Southern California

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kimberly Miller, PhD, University of Southern California

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)

November 24, 2021

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 14, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 20, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

December 2, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 26, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0S-20-10 (Other Identifier: USC / Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center)
  • P30CA014089 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • NCI-2021-05723 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))
  • R37CA256867 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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