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A Study of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers to People With Cancer

Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy to Meet Palliative Care Needs of Cancer Caregivers

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06307535
Enrollment
200
Registered
2024-03-13
Start date
2024-03-13
Completion date
2029-03-01
Last updated
2026-05-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Caregiver Burden, Caregiver Burnout, Caregiver Stress Syndrome

Keywords

Caregiver, Caregiver Stress Syndrome, Caregiver Burden, Caregiver Burnout, Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy, 23-376

Brief summary

Participants will complete 1 set of questionnaires about 2 weeks before beginning their Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers/MCP-C or standard Supportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers/SP-C sessions. These questionnaires will ask about participants' sense of meaning and purpose in life, spiritual well-being, depression and/or anxiety, and social support. Participants will then be assigned to receive either MCP-C or SP-C for 7 sessions. Participants will complete additional sets of questionnaires about 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after their last session of MCP-C or SP-C. It will take between 35 and 50 minutes to complete each set of questionnaires. After participants complete the MCP-C or SP-C sessions and all 4 sets of questionnaires, their participation in this study will end. If participants decide not to complete all 7 sessions, they may still choose to complete the questionnaires. Participants may remain in the study and continue to receive all 7 sessions of MCP-C or SP-C even if their loved one passes away.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALMeaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers

MCP-C is a stakeholder-informed, innovative, manualized intervention designed to assist caregivers to connect to a sense of meaning and purpose in life, despite the challenges of caregiving.

BEHAVIORALSupportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers

Standard of care supportive psychotherapy

Sponsors

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Lead SponsorOTHER
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
CollaboratorOTHER
University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Age 18 or over; * As per self-report, a current caregiver to a patient with Stage III or IV solid tumor cancer currently receiving medical care of any kind (e.g., curative, palliative); * Experiences distress as evidenced by a score of 4 or greater on the Distress Thermometer (DT) and an indication that this distress is associated with caregiving; * As per self-report, can read and understand English; * As per self-report, residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Florida, or have the ability to complete sessions while complying with current telehealth regulations.

Exclusion criteria

* Participant does not have a reasonable understanding of the study activities by the judgment of the consenting professional; * Engagement in regular individual psychotherapeutic support that the participant is unable or unwilling to put on hold for the course of treatment.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Number of participants with improved primary outcomesUp to 1 yearEvaluate the efficacy of MCP-C versus SP-C in improving primary outcomes (i.e., sense of meaning in life, spiritual well-being) immediately post-treatment and explore maintenance in gains up to 1 year.
Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R)Up to 1 yearLife Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) - used to measure sense of meaning in life. The LAP-R is a 48-item instrument. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Full scale ranges from 30 to 210 with a higher score indicating a greater sense of meaning in life and a more positive attitude towards life.
FACIT Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS)Up to 1 yearThe Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) - used to measure spiritual well-being. The SWBS is a 12-item instrument. Each item is scored from 1 to 5. Negatively worded items are reverse scored. The measure generates two sub-scales: Faith/Spirituality (0-16) and Meaning/Peace (0-32). Full scale ranges from 0 to 48. Higher scores indicate a greater sense of spiritual well-being.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)Up to 1 yearHospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - measures anxiety and depression. 14-items scale with responses scored from 0-3, scores for each subscale from 0 (normal) to 21 (severe symptoms). Scores for the entire scale is 0 to 42, with higher score indicating poorer health outcome.
Benefit Finding Scale (BFS)Up to 1 yearBenefit Finding Scale (BFS) - measures benefit finding. The BFS is a 17-item instrument. Each item is scored from 1-5 (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a bit, or very much). Full scale ranges from 17 to 85, with higher scores indicating greater benefit finding.
Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA)Up to 1 yearCaregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) - measures caregiver burden. The CRA is a 24-item instrument. Full scale ranges from 24 to 120, with higher scores indicating greater caregiving burden
Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (FSSQ)Up to 1 yearDuke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (FSSQ) - measures social support. The FSSQ is an 8-item instrument. Each item is scored on a scale of 5-1 where 5=as much as I would like; 4=almost as much as I would like; 3=some, but would like more; 2=less than i would like, and 1=much less than I would like. Full scale ranges from 0 to 44 with higher scores indicating a higher degree of satisfaction related to social support.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTAllison Applebaum, PhD, FAPOS
allison.applebaum@mssm.edu212-241-8561
CONTACTMorgan Loschiavo, MPH
LoschiaM@mskcc.org646-888-0225
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORAllison Applebaum, PhD, FAPOS

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: May 27, 2026