PRESENCE Project: An Early Palliative Care Intervention in Brain Tumors

Comparatore attivo: Arm A: Usual Care Group

Usual care is defined as standard post-operative care on a surgical unit in University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Discharge planning will be provided by the assigned in-patient social worker. Referrals to the assigned outpatient social worker will be made as appropriate. Patients and caregivers will be seen in the ambulatory medical oncology setting about three to six weeks after surgery, depending on post-operative recovery time. The research assistant will administer the research questionnaires at week one post-surgery and 8-10 weeks post surgery.

Altro: Research Questionnaires

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Pearlin & Schooler Caregiver Mastery Caregiver Assessment Tool Patient/Caregiver Satisfaction Survey

Sperimentale: Arm B: PRESENCE Intervention

The unique features of the PRESENCE Project (PP) Intervention are 1) the early palliative care intervention (immediately post-op) provided by the new palliative care brain tumor team (Social worker, advanced practice nurse (APN), medical oncology registered nurse); 2) an educational information session for patients and caregivers; and 3) frequent (every two week and as needed) telephone or clinic visits during the first ten weeks post operatively (Figure 1). In usual care, the patient and caregiver receive little supportive care until they begin cancer treatment. The intervention provides aggressive supportive care from the time of diagnosis.

Altro: Research Questionnaires

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Pearlin & Schooler Caregiver Mastery Caregiver Assessment Tool Patient/Caregiver Satisfaction Survey

Altro: Palliative Care Team

Week 1: Early palliative care intervention (immediately post-op) provided by the new palliative care brain tumor team (Social worker, advanced practice nurse (APN), medical oncology registered nurse).

1. Introduce the palliative care team concept.
2. Provide contact information for the palliative care team given
3. Administer Initial Patient and Caregiver Psychosocial Assessments (Appendix A)
4. Offer community resources to patient and caregiver (Appendix B)
5. Provide additional resources/referrals for any needs that are identified by patient or care partner during initial psychosocial assessment
6. Provide supportive care

Altro: Educational Information Session for Patients and Caregivers

Provide an educational class "Moving Forward: Facing a Brain Tumor Diagnosis" for patient and caregiver Week 5 through 7: The PRESENCE Project Social Worker and oncology RN will provide an educational class.

Intervention (Length of time for class = 2 hours):

1. Provide an educational class "Moving Forward: Facing a Brain Tumor Diagnosis" for patient and caregiver.
2. Provide additional resources/referrals for any needs that are identified by patient or care partner during the educational class.
3. Provide supportive care.

Altro: Contact every 2 weeks

The PRESENCE Project APN and/or Presence Project Social Worker will contact the patient and caregiver via telephone or office visit every two weeks and as needed until the second medical oncology visit.

(Anticipated length of time for phone intervention or visit is 20 minutes; however, length of time for intervention is tailored to the patient and caregiver's needs):

1. Administer Patient and Caregiver Follow-up Assessment
2. Provide pain and/or symptom management intervention for any issues identified during the follow-up assessment
3. Provide resources/referrals for any needs identified during the social work follow-up assessment
4. Provide supportive care

Altro: Follow-up Surgical Visit Session

The PRESENCE Project APN will meet with patient and caregiver at the surgical follow-up visit, approximately two weeks after surgery.

Intervention (Anticipated length of time for visit is about 30 minutes; however length of time for intervention is tailored to the patient and caregiver's needs):

1. Administer Patient and Caregiver Follow-up Assessment
2. Administer Symptom Assessment Tool
3. Provide pain and/or symptom management intervention
4. Provide supportive care

Altro: Medical and/or Radiation Oncology Appointment Session

The PRESENCE Project APN and/or Presence Project Social Worker will meet with patient and caregiver at the first medical and/or radiation oncology appointment (weeks 3 and 4).

Intervention (Anticipated length of time for visit is about 30 minutes; however length of time for intervention is tailored to the patient and caregiver's needs):

1. Administer Patient and Caregiver Follow-up Assessment
2. Re-assess pain and/or symptom management issues and /or intervention
3. Provide resources/referrals for any needs identified during the social work follow-up assessment
4. Provide supportive care.

Feasibility of the intervention will be measured by participant surveys.

Using the patient satisfaction tool, the researchers will report descriptive data on patient and caregiver satisfaction with the intervention and any burden associated with participating in the intervention. In addition, the ability to contact patients and caregivers on an every two week basis, patient and caregiver attendance at the educational program, and evaluations from the Moving Forward program will be tracked.

Change in distress level

Using the patient satisfaction tool, the researchers will report descriptive data on patient and caregiver satisfaction with the intervention and any burden associated with participating in the intervention. In addition, the ability to contact patients and caregivers on an every two week basis, patient and caregiver attendance at the educational program, and evaluations from the Moving Forward program will be tracked.

Change in Anxiety level

Distress: Psychological distress is defined as "the general concept of maladaptive psychological functioning in the face of stressful life events" (Abeloff et al., 2000, p. 556). Distress is being measured as a global construct, using a distress thermometer as described by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines (Holland & Alici, 2010; nccn.org). Participants will rate their present level of distress (on a 0-10 scale, with 0 being no distress, to 10 being the most distressed) and then identify particular stressors in the area of practical problems, family problems, emotional problems, spiritual/religious concerns, physical problems, and any additional stressor as identified by the participant.

Change in Depression level

Anxiety and depression are two psychological outcomes commonly reported in caregiving research. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) will be used to measure both concepts reflective of psychological wellbeing in patients and caregivers. The HADS is a reliable and valid instrument, with strong internal consistency for cancer populations. It has been used for patients who are hospitalized or ambulatory patients and for caregivers. It consists of 14 items which are scored on a four-point Likert scale (0-3). Items are recoded and summarized into subscales of anxiety and depression (range 0-21). Participants scoring 11 or higher are considered anxious or depressed.

Caregiver Response to the Caregiving Experience

The reaction is either positive (caregiver benefit) or negative (caregiver burden). The caregiver reaction will be assessed using the Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA). This 24-item instrument will be used to measure the burden of informal caregiving using a 5-point Likert scale. The CRA consists of five subscales that represent positive and negative burden aspects of caregiving. They include 1) impact on schedule; 2) caregiver's esteem; 3) lack of family support; 4) impact on health; and 5) impact on finances. Positive items are reversed scored. Higher scores indicate greater levels of perceived burden.

Caregiver Mastery

The Pearlin & Schooler Mastery Instrument (1978) will be used to assess caregiver mastery. Caregiver mastery refers to the caregivers' perceptions of their ability to meet the challenges of caregiving, to feel in control of the situation, and to use effective problem solving skills. The Pearlin & Schooler Master Instrument is a seven item, five-point Likert scale instrument with a Crohnbach's alpha = 0.73. Scoring is done by summing item scores for a total score (possible range 7-35) with higher scores indicating higher levels of mastery. Examples of items include, "I have little control over the things that happen to me", and "There is little I can do to change many of the important things in my life".