Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health Communication for Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Patients (ReSPECT)

August 3, 2026 updated by: Connecticut Children's Medical Center

Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health Communication Between Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Patients and Clinicians: ReSPECT Intervention Proof-of-Concept Testing

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if ReSPECT, which includes a pre-visit checklist for patients to complete and an informational website, can work well in practice to help adolescent and young adult oncology patients communicate with their clinicians about sexual and reproductive health (SRH). SRH includes topics such as how cancer may impact puberty and development, best methods for contraception during cancer treatment, fertility risk and fertility preservation strategies, and dating/relationships during and after cancer. The study will also help researchers better understand how to best measure the impact of ReSPECT on improving SRH communication for future testing of ReSPECT.

The main questions the study aims to answer are:

How well does ReSPECT work in practice? Do patients and clinicians like ReSPECT, and do they find it helpful? What are the best ways to test ReSPECT and measure whether it works?

Participants will:

Use ReSPECT to support a conversation about SRH during an outpatient oncology clinic appointment Complete surveys before and after using ReSPECT Provide feedback on their experience using ReSPECT in a short interview

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Psychosexual development is a key aspect of adolescence and young adulthood, which may be significantly disrupted by a cancer diagnosis. Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients are at risk for complications that can detrimentally impact their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) during and after cancer treatment. Prior research has shown that pediatric oncologists rarely discuss many important aspects of SRH, and AYA cancer patients repeatedly report unmet communication needs related to these topics.

To address these needs, we have developed ReSPECT, an interactive, web-based digital platform designed to improve communication about insufficiently addressed SRH topics. ReSPECT integrates (1) a pre-visit questionnaire (PVQ) that will allow AYA patients to discreetly alert clinicians to relevant SRH questions/concerns (2) targeted patient education based on PVQ selections, and (3) clinician-centered guidance for addressing specific SRH questions/concerns. Previous stages of this research involved developing and refining a prototype of ReSPECT based on stakeholder feedback. Utilizing this prototype, this proof-of-concept study will assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived usefulness of ReSPECT with AYA patients on active cancer treatment and their oncology clinicians. In addition to assessing operational viability, this study will also assess the feasibility of collecting secondary outcomes measures. Data collected will lay the foundation for a future randomized controlled trial to assess ReSPECT intervention efficacy, with the ultimate goal of improving HRQOL communication for AYAs across the cancer continuum.

Primary Aim: Evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and perceived usefulness of ReSPECT in the outpatient setting with AYA oncology patients and clinicians.

ReSPECT will undergo proof-of-concept testing with AYAs (n=30) and their oncology clinicians (n~10-30) to determine if the intervention is feasible (recruitment >60%, retention >80%), acceptable (>70% with an average score ≥4 on the Lyon Satisfaction Questionnaire), and perceived useful (>70% with an average score ≥4 on the Usability/Sustainability of Intervention scale). Qualitative interviews with participants will provide additional information on acceptability, perceived usefulness, and opportunities for intervention improvement.

Secondary Aim: Collect and examine descriptive data on preliminary outcomes of ReSPECT and assess feasibility of procedures for a future randomized controlled trial.

Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires (T1: pre-visit, T2: within 48 hrs post-visit, T3: 8 weeks post-visit) to assess signals of intervention efficacy will include communication behavior, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, decision-making, therapeutic alliance, distress/bother, and developmentally relevant health risk behaviors.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

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 Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90027
        • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
        • 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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 15-25 years old
  • Has a cancer diagnosis
  • ≥2 months from diagnosis/initiation of therapy, whichever occurred later
  • Currently on cancer-directed therapy
  • Speaks and reads English
  • Approval from primary oncology team
  • Study participation by primary oncology clinician

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not able to provide informed consent/assent
  • Insufficient cognitive functioning to complete study measures, as determined by a member of the patient's primary oncology team
  • Exceeds primary oncologist's participant limit (3 patients/clinician)

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: ReSPECT Intervention Arm
AYA oncology patients and their primary oncology clinicians who will receive the ReSPECT intervention
Behavioral: ReSPECT
ReSPECT is a multi-modal digital intervention that integrates a pre-visit questionnaire and targeted patient and clinician education to support SRH communication in the outpatient oncology clinic setting. For the purposes of this study it will be used in conjunction with a single regularly scheduled clinic visit.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasibility
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Feasibility will be evaluated based on intervention enrollment (% of participants that complete consent/assent that complete all enrollment procedures, including the T1 survey), completion (% of enrolled AYAs completing the PVQ and the T2 survey) and retention (% of enrolled AYAs and clinicians completing all steps through the T3 survey). ReSPECT will be deemed feasible if intervention enrollment, completion and retention rates are ≥80%, ≥80%, and ≥70%, respectively
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Acceptability
Time Frame: From enrollment until T2 survey completion (within 48 hours post-visit)
Acceptability will include usability. Acceptability measures will be modeled on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability, and include the rating of seven statements on a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree). Acceptability will be defined as ≥70% of AYA and clinician participants rating the intervention acceptable (average score 4 or higher). Usability will be assessed by the Intervention Usability Scale (IUS), a 10-item survey that measures responses to statements on a 5-point Likert scale ("strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". Scores are converted and averaged to produce a total score from 0 to 100, with a score of 70 or higher set as the threshold for satisfactory usability. ReSPECT will be deemed usable if ≥70% of AYA and clinician participants rate the intervention usable (average score 70 or higher).
From enrollment until T2 survey completion (within 48 hours post-visit)
Perceived Usefulness
Time Frame: Timepoint 2
Perceived usefulness will be evaluated in post-encounter semi-structured qualitative interviews with AYAs and clinicians. Sample questions include, "Was the SRH conversation helpful? Why or why not?" and, "What is the most useful part of ReSPECT? What is the least useful?". Additional questions will also cover perceived potential impact of ReSPECT improving SRH, barriers encountered using ReSPECT, and opportunities for improvement.
Timepoint 2
SRH Communication
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Participants will be asked if the sexual health topic(s) selected on the PVQ were discussed during the clinic visit (yes/no) and about who initiated the conversation (AYA patient/clinician). They will also complete a brief survey listing each of the 7 sexual health subtopics and indicate whether or not the topic was discussed, who initiated the topic conversation, and (for patients) whether they asked their clinician any questions about the specific topic. AYA patient participants will also be asked if there were topics/information not addressed or inadequately addressed during the visit along with whether or not additional people were in the room during the conversation. Data to be collected were adapted from an instrument used for similar sexual health communication research in adult cancer populations
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-Efficacy
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Self-efficacy will be measured by a two-item scale assessing AYA and clinician confidence (1) initiating and (2) participating in discussions about SRH topics. Responses range from 0 (not at all confident) to 10 (extremely confident) for each topic.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Decisional Confidence (Decision Making)
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Decisional confidence will be assessed by a single-item survey measure to assess whether ReSPECT helped AYAs make an informed decision about a SRH question/concern. Participants will be asked to respond with yes/no, then to describe why/why not.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Distress/Bother
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
The Level of Bother Scale is a single-item scale assessing the extent to which participants have been bothered by specific SRH concerns in the last month. Responses are scored on a 4-point Likert scale, with higher scores indicating greater levels of bother.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Outcome Expectancies
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
The Outcome Expectancy Scale is a 6-item scale assessing AYA's perception of the extent to which outcomes may result from discussing SRH topics with their oncology clinician. Potential outcomes include answering question(s), finding a solution to a problem, giving peace of mind, helping play an active role in one's health care, improving SRH, and helping make decisions. For each item, responses range from 0 (not at all) to 10 (very much).
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Risk Behaviors (Decision Making)
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
A 9-item questionnaire adapted from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey will be used to characterize quality and frequency of health risk behaviors among AYA participants.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Therapeutic Alliance
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
The Human Connection (THC) scale is a 16-item scale measuring therapeutic alliance (TA) between AYAs and clinicians. Items are scored on a 4-point Likert scale, with response categories based on question content, and higher scores indicating greater TA.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Literacy
Time Frame: Timepoint 1
The Chew Health Literacy Screen is a validated 3-item questionnaire designed to identify individuals with inadequate health literacy. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale, with higher scores indicating greater health literacy
Timepoint 1
Depression and Anxiety
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is a 14-item scale with subscales for anxiety and depression (7 items each). Items were validated in the outpatient medical clinic setting and do not assess somatic complaints. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (absence) to 3 (extreme presence), with higher scores indicating greater levels of anxiety and depression
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
Sexual Health
Time Frame: From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)
The COG Sexual Health Task Force Sexual Health Assessment is an 8-item survey designed to assess SH outcomes among AYAs with cancer and includes sexual history, sexual function, body image, and romantic relationships. Question types include Likert scales, yes/no questions, and multiple-response checklists.
From enrollment until T3 survey completion (8 weeks post-visit)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Connecticut Children's Medical Center

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Natasha N Frederick, MD, MPH, Connecticut Children's Medical

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.

General Publications

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)

November 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 15, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 3, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 26-029 (The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Institutional Review Board)
  • K08CA286736-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Given the relatively small sample size and the rarity of pediatric cancer, even after removal of identifiers we believe a risk remains of deductive identification of participants. Consequently, we are not planning to share IPD.

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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