AYA-PeerConnect: A Communication Coaching Intervention for Adolescent/Young Adult Cancer Survivors (AYACS)

May 20, 2026 updated by: Pooja Rao, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
This research is being done to test a communication coaching intervention pilot designed to improve communication quality between adolescent/young adult cancer survivors (AYACS) and their friends/peers. The results of the study will help to understand how to best support adolescent/young adult cancer survivors, and may inform the development or future implementation of similar programs for cancer survivor populations.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study is being done to test a communication coaching intervention designed to improve communication quality between adolescent/young adult cancer survivors (AYACS) and their friends/peers. The results of the study will help to understand how to best support adolescent/young adult cancer survivors, and may inform the development or future implementation of similar programs for cancer survivor populations.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

10

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
    • Pennsylvania
      • Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, 17033
        • Recruiting
        • Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participant is currently ≥18-35 years old
  • Participant is receiving cancer-directed care at Penn State Cancer Institute or Penn State Children's Hospital
  • Participant has completed all cancer-directed therapy and is at least 1 year from end of cancer treatment (based on date of last cancer-directed treatment)
  • Participant has access to a computer with internet capability
  • Participant is fluent in written and spoken English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participant is not fluent in written and spoken English
  • Participant with cognitive inability to participant in the study as determined by the study team
  • Participants with history of relapsed cancer

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: Asynchronous coaching and artificial intelligence (AI) Yoodli coach sessions
The intervention will use a combination of asynchronous communication coaching sessions, and AI Yoodli coach sessions.
Behavioral: Asynchronous coaching and artificial intelligence (AI) Yoodli coach sessions

Participants will complete asynchronous individual sessions for Visits 2-4. Each visit will include a 60-minute interactive didactic session using Rise 360 software, with a 20-minute Yoodli AI coaching session (both Rise 360 and Yoodli will be accessed via website). Rise 360 sessions will cover topics related to communication style, multiple goals theory and how to apply concepts learned in being good communicators. Yoodli AI coaching session will be completed for the corresponding Rise 360 session before moving to the next visit's session.

The 20-minute Yoodli AI coaching sessions will include coaching from the Yoodli AI coach and practicing various peer conversation situations. These sessions will consolidate and reinforce concepts learned in the didactic sessions. The Yoodli AI coach is programmed with input on relationship style (a communication tool to assess communication style) to deliver personalized coaching.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Communication quality Multiple Goals Score
Time Frame: Baseline
Rating process for communication quality analysis (CQA) domains. A domain score is calculated for each of the six communication quality domains (content, emotion, accommodation, engagement, relationship, and face). Using the emotion domain as an example, the neutral score is assigned as a "1," and as participants express emotion (as per the definition above and further detailed in the CQA codebook) the score increases with the highest quality score being "7". A domain score is assigned every five minutes for each of the six domains. The full range for each measure is 6 (most neutral)-42 (highest quality).
Baseline
Communication quality Multiple Goals Score
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Rating process for communication quality analysis (CQA) domains. A domain score is calculated for each of the six communication quality domains (content, emotion, accommodation, engagement, relationship, and face). Using the emotion domain as an example, the neutral score is assigned as a "1," and as participants express emotion (as per the definition above and further detailed in the CQA codebook) the score increases with the highest quality score being "7". A domain score is assigned every five minutes for each of the six domains. The full range for each measure is 6 (most neutral)-42 (highest quality).
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Intervention Feasibility (Quantitative)
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Quantitative feasibility will be collected based on visit attendance.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Intervention Feasibility (Qualitative)
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Qualitative feasibility data will be collected from post-module mixed methods assessments, and exit interviews and focus groups.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Intervention Acceptability (Quantitative)
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Quantitative acceptability will be collected using an acceptability questionnaire. Quantitative acceptability will be integrated with qualitative data from post-module mixed methods assessments, and exit interviews and focus groups to understand intervention acceptability.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Intervention Acceptability (Qualitative)
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Qualitative acceptability data will be collected from post-module mixed methods assessments, and exit interviews and focus groups.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety
Time Frame: Baseline
Anxiety will be measured using the Anxiety (Emotional Distress-Anxiety-Short Form 8a) measure from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item self-report questionnaire assessing anxiety symptoms over the past 7 days, including fear, tension, and worry. It is scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Never, 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Often, 5=Always).
Baseline
Anxiety
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Anxiety will be measured using the Anxiety (Emotional Distress-Anxiety-Short Form 8a) measure from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item self-report questionnaire assessing anxiety symptoms over the past 7 days, including fear, tension, and worry. It is scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Never, 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Often, 5=Always).
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Depression
Time Frame: Baseline
Depression will be measured using the Depression (Emotional Distress-Depression-Short Form 8b) measure from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item, self-report questionnaire assessing negative mood, views of self, and social cognition over the past seven days. It uses a 5-point scale (1=Never, 5=Always) to measure severity.
Baseline
Depression
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Depression will be measured using the Depression (Emotional Distress-Depression-Short Form 8b) measure from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item, self-report questionnaire assessing negative mood, views of self, and social cognition over the past seven days. It uses a 5-point scale (1=Never, 5=Always) to measure severity.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Social isolation
Time Frame: Baseline
Social isolation will be measured by the validated Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Social Isolation Form 8a.The PROMIS Social Isolation 8a short form is a 8-item, self-report tool measuring perceived loneliness and detachment from others. It uses a 5-point Likert scale (1=Never to 5=Always) to assess feelings of being avoided, excluded, or disconnected.
Baseline
Social isolation
Time Frame: Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)
Social isolation will be measured by the validated Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Social Isolation Form 8a.The PROMIS Social Isolation 8a short form is a 8-item, self-report tool measuring perceived loneliness and detachment from others. It uses a 5-point Likert scale (1=Never to 5=Always) to assess feelings of being avoided, excluded, or disconnected.
Post intervention follow up visit (Up to a month)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Pooja Rao, MD MSCE, Penn State College of Medicine

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)

April 14, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 2, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 20, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 28236

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Aggregate participant data that underlie the results reported in the study, after de-identification.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

1 years to 3 years following final publication.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ICF

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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