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NCT Number: NCT07071116

Seminar in Unwavering Empowering Presence Optimized for Rehabilitation Teams

The goal of this study to test the feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact of a serious illness communication skills training (CST) tailored to rehabilitation professionals to improve their comfort and confidence in navigating difficult conversations with patients and families.

Primary Objectives:

Aim 1: To assess feasibility and acceptability of a multidisciplinary co-designed interactive CST program for rehabilitation professionals who care for children with serious illness and their families.

Aim 2: To characterize the potential impact of this CST intervention on pediatric rehabilitation professionals.

Secondary Objective:

Aim 3: To examine the perspectives of bereaved parent educators on participation in the implementation of communication training for rehabilitation professionals.

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Key information

Conditions

Communication Behavior

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Memphis, Tennessee, 38105, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Brittany Cowfer, MD

CONTACT

[email protected]

888-226-4343

Brittany Cowfer, MD

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

About this study

The Communication Skills training (CST) will last approximately 3 hours. It will consist of three main components: Part 1 will begin with an introductory case of an emotional parent, then a brief didactic with a framework on responding to emotion, and end with rehab professionals actively practicing 'drills' using the framework for responding to emotion. Part 2 will be a panel of bereaved parents. Learners will be asked to think of questions to ask the parents in advance and will also be invited to ask questions that come to mind in the moment. Part 3 will be focused on sharing serious news, beginning with an introductory case of sharing cancer progression, followed by didactic teaching in a VitalTalk framework, 'REMAP,' for sharing serious news and eliciting goals/values. Leaders will then introduce role-play via a demonstration case. Next, learners will be divided into small groups for discussion and role-play, with a strong emphasis on principles of psychological safety and learner autonomy. and incorporates didactic instruction, experiential learning, and involvement of bereaved parent educators.

Demographic information will be collected for participating bereaved parent educators and rehabilitation professionals. Rehabilitation professionals will complete pre-intervention self-assessment surveys immediately prior to the educational intervention. Post-intervention self-assessment surveys will be administered immediately after completion of the intervention and 3-months post-intervention to assess for retention. Rehabilitation professionals and bereaved parent educators will also be interviewed about their experience following the intervention. The interviews will be done on an individual basis either virtually or in-person.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

Intervention Participants

  • Licensed rehabilitation professionals (e.g., physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists) employed at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital actively involved in the care of pediatric oncology patients.
  • Willingness to participate in the communication skills training (CST) intervention and associated study activities.

Inclusion criteria

Intervention Facilitators

  • St. Jude Bereaved Parent Educators who have participated as an educator in at least one other institutional educational event
  • Willingness to facilitate the communication skills training (CST) intervention and complete associated study activities.

Exclusion criteria

Intervention Participants

  • Non-rehabilitation professionals
  • Individuals unable to attend the CST intervention session.

Exclusion criteria

Intervention Facilitators

  • Individuals unable to attend the CST intervention session.

Treatment and study plan

communication skills training

Other

See Detailed Description

Other names: CST

Communication skills training-Facilitator

Other

See Detailed Description

Other names: CST-Facilitator

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3 on the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) scale

    Time frame: Approximately 3 months post intervention

    Investigators will compute the mean Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) score for each participant using the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) and report the proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3. The Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) is used to assess how feasible it is to implement a specific intervention. The FIM measure includes four itemized responses that are scored from one to five (1=Completely disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neither agree nor disagree, 4=Agree, 5=Completely agree) such that one represents the lowest possible mean score and five the highest possible mean score. It is scored by averaging the responses to each of the four questions. Higher scores indicate greater perceived feasibility of the intervention.

  2. Proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3 on Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) scale

    Time frame: Approximately 3 months post intervention

    Investigators will compute the mean Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) score for each participant and report the proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3. The Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) is a four-item scale used to assess the acceptability of an intervention. It is scored by calculating the mean of the responses to its four items, each measured on a 5-point Likert scale(1=Completely disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neither agree nor disagree, 4=Agree, 5=Completely agree). This results in a final score ranging from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.

  3. Proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3 on the Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) scale

    Time frame: Approximately 3 months post intervention

    Investigators will compute the mean Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) score for each participant and report the proportion of participants who achieve a mean score ≥3. The Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) is a four-item scale used to assess the appropriateness of interventions by capturing individual perspectives on the alignment of the intervention with professional values and perceived efficacy in meeting patient needs. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Completely disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neither agree nor disagree, 4=Agree, 5=Completely agree). The score is calculated by averaging the responses to all items. A higher score on the IAM indicates a stronger perception that the intervention is appropriate for the given situation and context.

  4. Potential impact of this CST intervention on pediatric rehabilitation professionals

    Time frame: Prior to the start of the intervention (day 1) and at the end of study, approximately 3 months

    Investigators will calculate the proportions of participants who select "Agree" or "Completely agree" in both the pre- and post-intervention surveys and conduct statistical tests, such as Fisher's exact test or the Chi-square test, to determine whether the change in these proportions over time is statistically significant.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Perspectives of bereaved parent educators on participation in the implementation of communication training for rehabilitation professionals.

    Time frame: Within 3 months post intervention

    Interviews will be conducted with bereaved parent educators following the intervention. Interviews will be recorded, transcribed, 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 interviews.

Study contacts

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

Brittany Cowfer, MD

CONTACT

[email protected]

888-226-4343

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2028
First posted
Jul 17, 2025
Registry last updated
Jul 13, 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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