Bereaved Parent Conversations on Hope

Bereaved Parent Conversations on Hope (BeHope)

This study looks at whether it is possible and helpful to have video call conversations about how hopes can change through the cancer journey between bereaved parents and learners at a children's cancer center.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Hope
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Discussion Guide; Other: Post-session Reflection Exercise

Detailed Description

Primary Objectives

Aim 1: To assess feasibility and acceptability of virtual conversations about hope between bereaved parent advisors and learners at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Aim 2: To evaluate impact of discussions about hope on both bereaved parent advisors and learners.

Secondary Objectives

Aim 1: To explore impact of discussion with bereaved parent advisors and subsequent reflection on participant professional identity formation.

This intervention is designed to facilitate direct conversations between learners and bereaved parent advisors about how hope evolves through the child's cancer journey. Providing a structured, virtual opportunity to discuss hope will allow learners to hear about the lived experiences of bereaved parents as they navigated pediatric cancer treatment, end of life, and bereavement. The intervention incorporates a discussion guide to support the conversation and a post-session reflection exercise. Assessments will include quantitative surveys administered pre-intervention and immediately post-intervention, as well as qualitative written reflections from participants and bereaved parents.

Both participant groups will receive an information sheet detailing the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits. An affirmative response on the pre-intervention survey to the item, "I would like to participate in a virtual educational discussion about hope," will be considered as implied consent to participate in the educational intervention portion of the study for both participants and facilitators. Investigators plan to enroll a total of 50 learners and 25 bereaved parent advisors.

For each learner who agrees to participate, two bereaved parent advisors will be identified and scheduled to meet virtually with the learner for approximately 1 hour using a virtual platform. Prior to the meeting, bereaved parent advisors will be instructed to select 3 photos that represent how hope evolved during their child's illness journey. Both the learners and bereaved parent advisors will be provided with the discussion guide for review prior to the session. Each virtual meeting will be recorded for implementation fidelity and for reference should any learner or parent concerns arise retrospectively from the conversation.

Immediately following each virtual meeting, both the learners and bereaved parent advisors will be asked to engage in individual short (15 minute) written reflections. Following this, participants will complete additional post-intervention survey questions with data collection managed through an online software platform. A second meeting with the same parents may be held at the learners request and the parents willingness. The participants who agree to and participate in a second meeting will receive open-ended questions and be prompted to complete a timed written reflection after the second meeting.

On an approximately quarterly basis, learners who have previously completed the intervention will be invited to participate in a facilitated group debrief and reflection session. Separately, bereaved parent advisors who have participated in at least one virtual meeting in the preceding quarter will be invited to a discussion and feedback session to share about their experiences with the program. For parents who do not prefer a group meeting, an individual session will be offered. All debriefing sessions will be recorded.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 75
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Brittany Cowfer, MD; Phone Number: 888-226-4343; Email: referralinfo@stjude.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Memphis, Tennessee, United States, 38105
      • St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
      • Principal Investigator: Brittany Cowfer, MD
      • Contact: Brittany Cowfer, MD; Phone Number: 888-226-4343; Email: referralinfo@stjude.org

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria

Intervention Participants must be:

• Students, observers, trainees, and newly hired clinicians,
• ≥18 years old,
• participating in or observing clinical care at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and
• willing to participate in the virtual intervention and associated study activities as learners

Intervention Facilitators must be:

• Bereaved parents,
• ≥ 18 years old,
• screened and cleared to volunteer as advisers with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through Family, Guest and Volunteer Services, and
• willing to participate in the virtual intervention and associated study activities as a facilitator

Exclusion Criteria

Intervention Participants:

• Age < 18 years, decline participation, or unable to speak/write in conversational English.

Intervention Facilitators:

• Age < 18 years, decline participation, or unable to speak/write in conversational English.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Educational Intervention; Intervention Participants: Students, observers, trainees, and newly hired clinicians ≥18 years old participating in or observing clinical care at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and willing to participate in the virtual intervention and associated study activities as learners. Intervention Facilitators: Bereaved parents ≥ 18 years old screened and cleared to volunteer as advisers with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and willing to participate in the virtual intervention and associated study activities as a facilitator.

Other: Discussion Guide; See Detailed Description; Other: Post-session Reflection Exercise; See Detailed Description

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of Intervention and Acceptability of Intervention Measures	Feasibility will be evaluated using the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), which includes four itemized responses that are scored from one to five, such that one represents the lowest possible mean score and five the highest possible mean score. Acceptability will be evaluated using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), which includes four itemized responses that are scored from one to five, such that one represents the lowest possible mean score and five the highest possible mean score. Feasibility and acceptability will be evaluated for the overall study cohort, including both learners and bereaved parent advisors, and by subgroup. Feasibility and Acceptability are standardly considered to be achieved with a mean score ≥3 for each. Higher scores indicate greater perceived feasibility and acceptability.	Day 1 after virtual meeting
Survey	To evaluate the impact of discussions about hope on both bereaved parent advisors and learners, investigators will summarize the distribution of responses to the pre and post intervention survey items by reporting frequencies and percentages for each response category. Pre-intervention surveys will also contain demographic information.	At enrollment and day 1 after virtual meeting
Written Reflections	Written reflections, captured after each virtual session, will be de-identified and analyzed using content analysis, an inductive approach which may include memo-writing, codebook development, coding, reconciliation, and synthesis to identify patterns and themes that emerge from the reflections. These will be used to assess impact of the session on both learners and parent advisors.	Day 1 after virtual meeting

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Debrief Sessions	Quarterly debrief sessions will be offered to those who have completed the intervention separately for bereaved parent advisors and learners. Learner debriefing sessions will be recorded, transcribed, and analyzed qualitatively to assess for impact on professional identity formation. Optional parent advisor debriefs will also be recorded and analyzed to further assess impact on facilitators.	Quarterly over 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Brittany Cowfer, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Clinical Trials Open at St. Jude

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 29, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 29, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Virtual Intervention; Cancer Journey; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH); SJCRH Bereaved Parent Advisors; SJCRH Learners
• Other Study ID Numbers: BeHope

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant de-identified datasets containing the variables analyzed in the published article will be made available (related to the study primary or secondary objectives contained in the publication). Supporting documents such as the protocol, statistical analyses plan, and informed consent are available through the CTG website for the specific study. Data used to generate the published article will be made available at the time of article publication. Investigators who seek access to individual level de-identified data will contact the computing team in the Department of Biostatistics (ClinTrialDataRequest@stjude.org) who will respond to the data request.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be made available at the time of article publication.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will be provided to researchers following a formal request with the following information: full name of requestor, affiliation, data set requested, and timing of when data is needed. As an informational point, the lead statistician and study principal investigator will be informed that primary results datasets have been requested.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No