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NCT Number: NCT07428278

Resilience-Building for Advance Care Planning

The aims of this study are to (1) assess the feasibility, acceptability, and usability of the ROCKS intervention among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers through a randomized controlled trial in a cancer center setting; (2) evaluate the preliminary efficacy of ROCKS, as compared to usual care, on changes in completion of advance directives; and (3) explore the dyadic effects of resilience on self-efficacy, optimism, dyadic communication and coping, anxiety, and depression using an actor-partner interdependence model.

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Key information

Conditions

Advanced Cancer Death End of Life Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year–80 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Illinois Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, 60607, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Li-Ting H. Longcoy

CONTACT

[email protected]

312-996-3024

About this study

Patients with advanced cancer have not fully benefited from advance care planning due to the high levels of anxiety and depression experienced and other barriers that affect their appraisals and coping. Despite the protective effects of resilience, there have been few clinical trials improving the resilience skills of patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers to help initiate advance care planning discussions and sustain engagement. This research evaluates the impact of a web-based resilience-building intervention called ROCKS on enhancing the completion of advance directives, as well as improving resilience, coping, anxiety, and depression among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Eligible patients will (1) be ≥ 18 years of age; (2) be diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer; and (3) have a family caregiver who is willing to participate.
  • Eligible family caregivers will be ≥ 18 years of age. All participants must be able to read, write, and speak English with minimal assistance from others and have access to the internet on a smartphone, laptop, or computer.

Exclusion criteria

  • Patient participants will be ineligible if they have (1) a Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) score < 8; or (2) have completed any form of advance directive.

Treatment and study plan

ROCKS

Behavioral

The intervention will be provided to participants to strengthen optimism, communication skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy to support patients and family caregivers in engaging in advance care planning discussions.

Usual Care

Behavioral

An advance directive called Five Wishes will be provided to participants to increase their knowledge about advance care planning.

Primary outcomes

  1. Completion of advance directives

    Time frame: Week 8

    Completion of Five Wishes

Secondary outcomes

  1. Resilience

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Range: 0-100; higher scores indicate a greater level of resilience)

  2. Optimism

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Revised Compound PsyCap Scale (Range: 3-18; higher scores indicate a greater level of optimism)

  3. Dyadic communication and coping

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Dyadic Coping Inventory (Range: 35-175; higher scores indicate greater perceived communication and dyadic coping)

  4. Knowledge

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey (Range: 2-10; Higher scores indicate a greater knowledge of advance care planning)

  5. Self-efficacy

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey (Range: 12-50; Higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy in advance care planning)

  6. Anxiety

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (Range: 0-21; Higher scores indicate higher levels of anxiety)

  7. Depression

    Time frame: Week 8

    Assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (Range: 0-27; Higher scores indicate higher levels of depression)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Li-Ting Longcoy

CONTACT

[email protected]

312-996-3024

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Illinois at Chicago

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

Registry information

Official study title

Facilitating Advance Care Planning Discussions Between Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Family Caregivers Using a Resilience-Building Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Acronym: ROCKS

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2028
First posted
Feb 23, 2026
Registry last updated
Jun 9, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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