Clinical trial NCT05087576: Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study
Official title: Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Mental Health Issue
Lead sponsor: New York University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-10-21
Enrollment: 67
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: The Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of the Expressive Helping (EH) intervention among Chinese Americans who are providing care for family members undergoing cancer treatment.

Detailed description: Because the psychosocial health of Chinese cancer patients and their caregivers are linked, there is a need to improve health outcomes for not just the patients, but also for the caregivers. While many caregiving interventions have focused on the caregiver-patient dyad as the "the unit of care", interventions that solely target caregivers are crucial given the emotional, social, financial, and physical toll of caregiving. To address this need, investigators are testing a writing intervention, Expressive Helping (EH), with Chinese family members who are providing care for their family members diagnosed with cancer. Over four brief structured writing sessions, participants write about their cancer caregiving experiences, disclosing their emotions and providing encouragement and guidance, with the knowledge that their narratives will be shared with and used as a resource for other Chinese cancer caregivers. Participants will be adult cancer caregivers of Chinese descent. After screening and consent, eligible participants will be enrolled in a 1:1 randomized controlled trial. Assessments of psychological symptoms will occur at baseline (prior to randomization), 1-month post-intervention, and 3-month post-intervention. Investigators will also assess potential mediators and moderators of the potential intervention effects. Investigators interacting with the participants will be blind to condition assignment.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Over 18 years old
* Of Chinese descent
* Informal (i.e., uncompensated) caregiver of individual diagnosed with cancer

Exclusion Criteria:

* Inability to read or write English or Traditional/Simplified Chinese

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes in depressive symptoms assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
measure: Changes in life satisfaction assessed by the Satisfaction with Life Scale.
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
measure: Changes in caregiver quality of life assessed by the Caregiver quality of life index - Cancer
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes in post-traumatic growth assessed by the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
measure: Changes in sleep quality assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
measure: Changes in caregiver strain assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
measure: Changes in intrusive thoughts assessed by the Impact of Event scale.
timeFrame: Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: New York
country: United States
facility: New York University
state: New York
Study officials:
References: