Study of How Caregivers Help Patients Cope With Respiratory and Other Symptoms Caused by Lung Cancer
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00979888 |
Recruitment Status
: Unknown
Verified September 2009 by National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
First Posted
: September 18, 2009
Last Update Posted
: August 26, 2013
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RATIONALE: Gathering information about how patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals cope with symptoms caused by lung cancer, such as breathlessness, cough, fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain, and difficulty sleeping, may help doctors learn more about non-drug methods of treating symptoms of respiratory distress.
PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how caregivers help patients cope with respiratory and other symptoms caused by lung cancer.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Anxiety Disorder Depression Dyspnea Fatigue Lung Cancer | Other: educational intervention Other: informational intervention Other: psychosocial support for caregiver Other: questionnaire administration Procedure: dyspnea management Procedure: management of therapy complications | Not Applicable |
OBJECTIVES:
- To consolidate knowledge of existing interventions and their characteristics.
- To seek patients', caregivers', and healthcare professionals' views on existing interventions and to establish whether these groups utilize any additional interventions not currently described in the literature.
- To explore patients' perspectives on interrelationships among symptoms, in terms of clusters or causal relationships.
- To identify patients', caregivers', and healthcare professionals' views of the desirable components/characteristics of a novel intervention.
- Explore what is 'usual care' in the context of the study.
OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.
The management of cough and breathlessness in respiratory diseases and lung cancer is assessed through a narrative review of interventions to support caregivers in providing physical care to patients with cancer and explore qualitative patient symptom experience with a particular focus on identifying specific characteristics and components of interventions and identifying patients' and caregivers' explanations of how the respiratory symptom cluster relates to other symptom experiences (e.g., fatigue, depression, anxiety).
Patients and caregivers undergo 2-3 face-to-face interviews to assess views on existing interventions in terms of perceived effectiveness, acceptability, importance, and feasibility; to establish whether additional interventions (formal or self-initiated) are employed; to address patient and caregiver experiences of symptom interactions and clusters; and to fine tune the content of the planned intervention and identify any synergies between symptoms as discussed by patients. Healthcare professionals undergo similar assessments via focus groups.
Patient and caregiver views on desirable components of a novel intervention are assessed by means of Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) using a 'Best-Worst Scaling' (BWS) approach to allow identification of the relative importance of several attributes by means of a series of scenarios to enable a focus on characteristics of a nonpharmacological intervention, rather than requiring respondents to make judgments about the usefulness of specific interventions (e.g., counseling, aromatherapy) with which they may be unfamiliar.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: This study will accrue 30-40 pairs of patients and caregivers.
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Estimated Enrollment : | 80 participants |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Supportive Care |
Official Title: | A Non-pharmacological Supportive Care Intervention for Patients With Lung Cancer and Their Caregivers in the Management of the Respiratory Distress Symptom Cluster. |
Study Start Date : | July 2009 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date : | July 2010 |
- Consolidation of knowledge of existing interventions and their characteristics
- Patients', caregivers', and healthcare professionals' views on existing interventions
- Utilization of any additional interventions not currently described in the literature
- Exploration of patients' perspectives on interrelationships among symptoms, in terms of clusters or causal relationships
- Patients', caregivers', and healthcare professionals' views of the desirable components/characteristics of a novel intervention using the Discrete Choice Experiment 'Best-Worst' scale
- Exploration of what is 'usual care' in the context of the study

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Ages Eligible for Study: | Child, Adult, Senior |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
-
Meets 1 of the following criteria:
- Patient with diagnosis of lung cancer
- Caregiver of patient
- Healthcare professional (i.e., clinical nurse specialist, physiotherapist, primary care team member, or palliative care team member)
- Patients recruited from Manchester, Liverpool, or Southampton hospitals
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
- Not specified
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
- Not specified

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00979888
United Kingdom | |
University of Manchester | Recruiting |
Manchester, England, United Kingdom, M13 9PL | |
Contact: Alex Molassiotis, MD 44-161-306-7830 |
Principal Investigator: | Alex Molassiotis, MD | University of Manchester |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00979888 History of Changes |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
CDR0000649867 UM-LC-Symptom-Clusters EU-20972 |
First Posted: | September 18, 2009 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | August 26, 2013 |
Last Verified: | September 2009 |
Keywords provided by National Cancer Institute (NCI):
dyspnea depression fatigue |
anxiety disorder small cell lung cancer non-small cell lung cancer |
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Lung Neoplasms Depression Fatigue Anxiety Disorders Dyspnea Respiratory Tract Neoplasms Thoracic Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site |
Neoplasms Lung Diseases Respiratory Tract Diseases Behavioral Symptoms Signs and Symptoms Mental Disorders Respiration Disorders Signs and Symptoms, Respiratory |