Symptom Management and Survivorship Plus Coaching for Advanced Cancer Survivors and Their Caregivers (SMSH and SMSH+)

February 9, 2026 updated by: Terry Badger, University of Arizona

Symptom Management and Survivorship Plus Coaching to Reduce Symptom Severity and Improve Health Related-quality of Life (HR-QOL) for Breast, GI and Melanoma Cancer Survivors and Their Caregivers

The protocol will include a 10-week Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook (SMSH) intervention to address informational needs for the management of physical and psychological symptoms, bundled with telephone delivered health coaching to address their symptom interference with physical, psychological and social functioning. The SMSH intervention, which includes both symptom assessment and management, is simple to implement, scalable, and evidence-based will be delivered to all survivors and caregivers (dyads) in this study, and will serve as an active control. In addition to the SMSH, intervention arm dyads will receive health coaching to address symptom interference and reduce social isolation. Symptom burden is more pronounced in marginalized populations such as Latina/o, rural, older age survivors and their caregivers.18-20 Many health disparities in these populations are underwritten by social isolation due to lack of access, disconnection from linguistically competent health care, mobility, and geographic proximity,21-23 and health coaching can address these issues.

The specific aims of the proposed feasibility study are to determine among survivors with metastatic or stage IV cancer and their caregivers (dyads):

Aim 1: Demonstrate SMSH plus health coaching feasibility (recruitment, retention, satisfaction (acceptability and appropriateness) for cancer survivors and their caregivers. Benchmarks: Recruitment 70% approached, Retention 75%, and participant satisfaction through qualitative exit interviews in week 11.

Aim 2: Collect preliminary data for the intervention impact on whether the SMSH + health coaching results in lowered burden of 24 symptoms (primary outcome) over weeks 1-10, and improved HRQoL (social, physical, psychological) (secondary outcome) at week 11, compared to SMSH alone.

Aim 3. Examine the enactment of self-management strategies in SMSH+health coaching versus SMSH alone.

The proposed pilot trial will provide proof of concept for the SMSH coupled with a live telephone delivered health coaching intervention to improve symptom management and HRQoL for metastatic breast, GI, and melanoma cancer survivors and caregivers. By addressing physical and psychological symptoms and survivorship using scalable, accessible interventions delivered via telephone, within reach of traditionally underserved populations, the findings have the potential to lay the foundation for the dissemination and implementation of a practical solution to meet survivor-caregiver needs both locally and nationally.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

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

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 for cancer survivors:

  • Age 18 or older
  • Diagnosed with metastatic or stage IV breast, gastrointestinal (GI), and melanoma cancer
  • Able to perform basic activities of daily living
  • Cognitively oriented to time, place, and person (recruiter determined)
  • Able to speak and understand English or Spanish
  • Access to a telephone
  • Has a caregiver in any relationship role (e.g., spouse, sibling, parent, friend) who can.

Inclusion criteria for the caregivers:

  • Age 18 or older
  • Able to speak and understand English or Spanish
  • Telephone access
  • Not currently treated for cancer

Exclusion criteria:

  • Nursing home resident
  • Bedridden
  • Hospice care
  • Currently receiving a symptom management intervention

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook (SMSH)
Survivors and caregivers are mailed a printed Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook (SMSH or Handbook), which has been shown to help survivors and caregivers manage symptoms in other studies. The SMSH includes a chapter for 24 common cancer symptoms (e.g., fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, pain, etc.) and provides tips and strategies to help with symptom management. The SMSH also includes lifestyle and behavior tips, survivorship guidelines, and surveillance guidelines. Survivors and caregivers are called by an interventionist via telephone once a week for 10 weeks to assess symptoms and make referrals to chapters in the handbook based on their reports.
Behavioral: Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook
Survivors and caregivers receive a printed Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook (SMSH), proven to help manage symptoms. The SMSH covers 24 common cancer symptoms (like fatigue, depression, sleep issues, pain), plus lifestyle, behavior, and survivorship guidelines. For 10 weeks, an interventionist calls weekly to assess symptoms and refer to relevant handbook chapters.
Other Names:
  • SMSH alone
Experimental: Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook + Coaching
Survivors and caregivers are mailed the printed Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook (SMSH or Handbook), which has been shown to help them manage symptoms in other studies. The SMSH includes a chapter for 24 common cancer symptoms (e.g., fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, pain, etc.) and provides tips and strategies to help with symptom management. The SMSH also includes lifestyle and behavior tips, survivorship guidelines, and surveillance guidelines. Trained health coaches will call the survivor and caregiver separately each week for 10 weeks to assess symptoms, make referrals to SMSH, and use behavioral theory techniques to facilitate goal setting and symptom self-management.
Behavioral: Symptom Management and Survivorship Handbook + Coaching
Coaches call survivors and caregivers separately each week. In week one, they introduce themselves and the intervention, explain the 10-call structure, and help participants prioritize symptoms and set management goals. Coaches review SMSH recommendations, coach on symptom management strategies, and use techniques such as motivational interviewing and self-monitoring. Coaches remind participants that some strategies help multiple symptoms, and recommend talking to a provider if any symptom scores above 3. In sessions 2-10, coaches check in, administer a symptom questionnaire, review prior goals, and document progress, barriers, and new goals. Each session covers discovery, desired outcome, pathways, context, and design.
Other Names:
  • SMSH+

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Symptom severity
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Assess whether SMSH combined with health coaching reduces the burden of 24 symptoms over 10 weeks compared to SMSH alone. Symptom burden will be measured using summary severity and interference scores from the Patient-Reported Outcome Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE). Severity is rated on a scale of 0=none, 1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe, 4=very severe. Interference is rated on a scale of 0=not at all, 1=a little bit, 2=somewhat, 3=quite a bit, 4=very much. Frequency is rated as 0=never, 1=rarely, 2=occasionally, 3=frequently, 4=almost constantly. As outlined in the PRO-CTCAE, frequency, severity, and interference questions will be asked for each item available. If frequency is "never," severity and interference will not be asked. Summary scores for severity and interference will be derived from the toxicity index (TI) developed by Rogatko et al. for CTCAE grades and applied to the PRO-CTCAE scores over weeks 1-8. Higher scores indicate worse outcomes.
10 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)
Time Frame: 11 weeks
Determine whether SMSH combined with health coaching improves HRQoL (social, physical, psychological) at week 11 compared to SMSH alone. HRQoL will be measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Profile-43, which is suitable for both survivors and caregivers and is available in English and Spanish. PROMIS domains include depression, anxiety, physical function, pain interference, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and satisfaction with participation in social roles. Each item uses a 5-point Likert scale (1-5) plus a single pain intensity rating (0-10 for direct pain assessment). The scores for each domain are not summed into a single score and are meant to be used together to reflect HRQoL domains. A T-score of 50 represents the U.S. general population average, with a standard deviation of 10. Higher scores indicate worse outcomes for symptoms/interference, but better outcomes for physical function.
11 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Arizona

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Terry A Badger, RN, PhD, University of Arizona College of Nursing

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 (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 29, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 17, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 9, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00007379

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

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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