Hendrix Submits NIH R01 Application
Kudos to Cristina Hendrix and her entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 application entitled: “Williams LifeSkills Cancer Care”. This proposal requests funding for a 5-year period with a start date of July 1, 2018.
Family and friends (“caregivers”) are significant sources of support for adults with cancer. Often, a cancer diagnosis and its symptoms bring anxiety and depression to caregivers. A distressedcaregiver has reduced capacity to support the cancer patient’s well-being and deterioration in the patient’s condition causes further distress for the caregiver. Despite increasing prevalence of cancer inthe U.S., many caregivers continue to navigate through their cancer caregiving experience without the benefit of evidence-based services.
We propose a randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of the WLSCC protocol on caregiver and patient outcomes including their healthcare utilization relative to a comparison condition. We will leverage the use of an electronic tablet to personalize caregiver training materials, communicate with caregivers, and collect data. The WLSCC training protocol provides information on cancer care including symptom management using a teaching framework that will allow caregivers to evaluate and manage distressing situations and their reactions to them. Further, the WLSCC protocol guides the caregivers to develop more positive and supportive social relationships. The specific aims of the study are to determine the short and long term effects of the WLSCC protocol on caregiver outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, preparedness in caregiving, and social support), and on patient quality of life. As secondary outcomes, the study will determine the differential effects on biological factors (blood pressure) and unplanned healthcare utilization (unplanned clinic visits, emergency department visits, hospitalizations) of caregivers and patients dyads across study time intervals (1, 3, and 6 months after completion of randomized protocols) in both arms.
The study setting is the oncology units at Duke University Hospital, Durham NC. Two hundred fifty cancer patient-caregiver dyads (N = 500) will be recruited. The patient is an individual with a cancer diagnosis and is not on hospice service. The patient’s plan of care should include an impending home discharge. The caregiver is an unpaid individual who is primarily involved in assisting the cancer patient. Other eligibility criteria for the dyads include 21 years and above, and able to read, write, and speak in English. The WLSCC intervention will involve six 30-minute video-call sessions between the caregiver and study interventionist. Descriptive statistics and multivariate methods including mixed models will be used for data analysis. Hierarchical random coefficients regression models will be used for longitudinal data analysis.