Resilience-Building for Advance Care Planning (ROCKS)

February 16, 2026 updated by: University of Illinois at Chicago

Facilitating Advance Care Planning Discussions Between Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Family Caregivers Using a Resilience-Building Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The aims of this study are to (1) assess the feasibility, acceptability, and usability of the ROCKS intervention among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers through a randomized controlled trial in a cancer center setting; (2) evaluate the preliminary efficacy of ROCKS, as compared to usual care, on changes in completion of advance directives; and (3) explore the dyadic effects of resilience on self-efficacy, optimism, dyadic communication and coping, anxiety, and depression using an actor-partner interdependence model.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients with advanced cancer have not fully benefited from advance care planning due to the high levels of anxiety and depression experienced and other barriers that affect their appraisals and coping. Despite the protective effects of resilience, there have been few clinical trials improving the resilience skills of patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers to help initiate advance care planning discussions and sustain engagement. This research evaluates the impact of a web-based resilience-building intervention called ROCKS on enhancing the completion of advance directives, as well as improving resilience, coping, anxiety, and depression among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

152

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

  • Name: Li-Ting Longcoy
  • Phone Number: 312-996-3024
  • Email: liting@uic.edu

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:

  • Eligible patients will (1) be ≥ 18 years of age; (2) be diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer; and (3) have a family caregiver who is willing to participate.
  • Eligible family caregivers will be ≥ 18 years of age. All participants must be able to read, write, and speak English with minimal assistance from others and have access to the internet on a smartphone, laptop, or computer.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient participants will be ineligible if they have (1) a Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) score < 8; or (2) have completed any form of advance directive.

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
Experimental: ROCKS
Participants assigned to this arm will receive a web-based resilience-building intervention.
Behavioral: ROCKS
The intervention will be provided to participants to strengthen optimism, communication skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy to support patients and family caregivers in engaging in advance care planning discussions.
Active Comparator: Usual Care
Participants assigned to this arm will receive an advance directive called Five Wishes.
Behavioral: Usual Care
An advance directive called Five Wishes will be provided to participants to increase their knowledge about advance care planning.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Completion of advance directives
Time Frame: Week 8
Completion of Five Wishes
Week 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Resilience
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale
Week 8
Optimism
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Revised Compound PsyCap Scale
Week 8
Dyadic communication and coping
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Dyadic Coping Inventory
Week 8
Knowledge
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey
Week 8
Self-efficacy
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey
Week 8
Anxiety
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7
Week 8
Depression
Time Frame: Week 8
Assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9
Week 8

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Illinois at Chicago

Collaborators

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

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 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 16, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 23, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 23, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 16, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2023-0430: Aim 4-6
  • R00NR020358 (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

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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