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Active, Not Recruiting

NCT Number: NCT01805609

Training Model to Advance Support of the Family as a Caregiving System in the Inpatient Oncology Setting

The purpose of this study is to provide a communication training program to inpatient nurses and social workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in order to help them assist caregiving families. The importance of this training program is that it aims to teach nurses and social workers how and when to respond more effectively and compassionately to challenges faced by caregiving families. One of the goals of this program is to address family support needs during a patient's hospitalization.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

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Key information

Age range

12 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, 10065, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Participating Providers:
  • Provider is an MSKCC acute care advanced practice nurse and/or inpatient social worker as per self-report.
  • Plans to attend at least 4/6 the didactic training sessions, and 3/6 consolidation sessions as per self-report.

A patient will be approached if:

  • Patient has been admitted to an inpatient service at MSKCC.
  • Patient is able to designate at least one close person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate. In the case that the patient is a minor (age 7-17 yrs), s/he will need to designate at least one close, adult person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate.

Family members will be approached if:

  • They were identified as a close other (including a family friend) involved in the care of an admitted patient on a participating provider's floor

Exclusion criteria

  • Evidence of cognitive impairment severe enough to preclude completing survey instruments as per clinical or research staff judgment or EMR.
  • Determined to not be appropriate for this study as per clinical judgment. Anyone, patient or family member, who is younger than 12 years old.
  • Anyone, patient or family member, who does not speak English.

Treatment and study plan

Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training

Behavioral

Training curriculum will be comprised of 2 phases to be attended sequentially: (l) The Didactic Phase will consist of 6 twice a month seminars, administered over a 3 month period. Each seminar includes a 1 hour lecture & discussion followed by 1 hour of role-play exercises; Lecture segments may include short training videos which Dr. Zaider uses in the nurses' training module she teaches through the Communication Skills Laboratory. The teaching portion of the didactic sessions of the training may also be videotaped as a reference point for curriculum review. Will explain to the providers that videotapes will only be available to study staff & that the role play portion will not be recorded; (2) Consolidation Phase will consist of 6 twice a month peer-group supervision meetings for ongoing consultation on family cases, also held across a 3 month period. Length of these consolidations sessions will be up to 2 hours.

Other names: Participants will be asked to attend at least 3/6 supervision meetings, which will feature a case presentation with consultation in a peer group format., Once they complete the sessions they will receive a Letter of Recognition as documentation that they participated in this training.

Questionnaires

Behavioral

Primary outcomes

  1. Provider outcomes

    Time frame: 2 years

    which include observed changes in skills (Family Skills Adherence Scale) and subjective confidence level (Confidence in Family Skills Questionnaire) in conducting a family-centered psychosocial consultation with a caregiving family

Secondary outcomes

  1. patient and/or family members'outcomes

    Time frame: 2 years

    which include caregivers' satisfaction with aspects of psychosocial care (Satisfaction with Emotional Support Scale measure), perceived quality of communication about illness (Family Session Communication Measure) and perceived alliance with the participating nurse or social worker (Family Alliance Scale)

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Other

Collaborators

  • Ackerman Institute for Family

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Mar 6, 2013
Registry last updated
Mar 5, 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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