None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The primary purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility and accessibility of a series of interventions which aim to increase participation in advance care planning (ACP) for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. ACP involves patients discussing and documenting their preferences for future medical care in case they are not able to communicate these later. Who is it for? You may be eligible to participate in this study if you are aged 18 or over, have been diagnosed with cancer of any kind and are receiving care from participating oncology outpatient clinics. Study details Participants in this study will be randomly allocated (by chance) to receive either the usual care regarding ACP, or to receive a number of prompts to encourage them to participate in ACP. These prompts include a letter from their oncologist and access to a website and DVD which all outline the purpose and benefits of ACP and provide information and worksheets to get started, as well as two text message prompts to encourage use of these tools. Participants will be asked to complete surveys regarding their use of the tools and how useful they were. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide information as to whether these prompt strategies are feasible for increasing the uptake of ACP among cancer patients.
Interventions
Advance care planning (ACP) involves a person discussing with their treatment team and family the medical care they would prefer in case they became too ill in the future to express their wishes, documenting their wishes in a written statement and/or appointing a substitute-decision maker. Patients randomised to the intervention will receive the following three strategies at study recruitment designed to increase engagement in ACP:
(1) Provision of a prescriptive letter. Participants will receiv
Advance care planning (ACP) involves a person discussing with their treatment team and family the medical care they would prefer in case they became too ill in the future to express their wishes, documenting their wishes in a written statement and/or appointing a substitute-decision maker. Patients randomised to the intervention will receive the following three strategies at study recruitment designed to increase engagement in ACP: (1) Provision of a prescriptive letter. Participants will receive a letter at the appointment informing them of the importance of undertaking ACP, The letter will emphasise that the oncologist provides advice to all their patients to plan for their future medical care, regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. The letter will include: (i) an explanation of the purpose and importance of future planning; (ii) state-specific information about enduring guardianship and advance directives, including their purpose and benefits. (2) Use of Start2Talk and/or DVD. Participants will be encouraged to access the Start2Talk website to facilitate documentation of an advance care plan (http://www.start2talk.org.au/); and/or watch the DVD of a practicing clinician explaining advance care planning to a simulated patient. Patients will be encouraged to complete the provided worksheets to document an advance care plan. In particular they will be encouraged to complete Worksheets 1.4 and 1.5, which involve completing a statement of values and wishes and a more specific directive. (3) SMS prompts. Participants will receive an SMS prompt from the research team 2 weeks and 4 weeks after recruitment reminding them to access the Start2Talk website and/or watch the DVD. The SMS message will include a toll free telephone number to enable contact with a research team member to answer any questions they may have. Participants will self-report use of the website and/or DVD, and receipt of reminders and letter.
Sponsors
University of Newcastle
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
People diagnosed with cancer, receiving care from participating oncology outpatient clinics; able to read and write English at a level that allows completion of surveys; able to provide informed consent; judged by service staff to be cognitively, emotionally and physically able to participate.
Exclusion criteria
People whose primary language is other than English (LOTE); Children and/or young people (ie. <18 years); People with an intellectual or mental impairment. Participants under the age of 18 have been excluded as they are unable to give informed consent. While it would be of interest to include non-English speaking participants, they have been excluded due to anticipated difficulties in responding to the written survey and using the intervention which will be produced in English only. Given informed consent is required as well as completing surveys and accessing web-based and audio-visual information (for the intervention group), people with an intellectual or mental impairment have also been excluded.
Outcome results
None listed