Clinical trial NCT02895490: Communication Training in Promoting Employment Retention Among Cancer Patients
Official title: Using Communication Training to Promote Employment Retention Among Cancer Survivors
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Unspecified Adult Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific
Lead sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
First posted: 2016-09-09
Enrollment: 8
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Maximum age (years): 64
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: This randomized clinical trial studies communication training in promoting employment retention among cancer patients. Communication training may improve patient-employer communication and increase the likelihood that cancer patients will remain employed, reduce patients' time away from work, and increase workplace accommodations that enable patients to balance treatment and work.

Detailed description: PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Demonstrate the efficacy of the DVD intervention to a) increase patients' knowledge of their legal rights in the workplace, b) improve patient perceptions of workplace communication about the impact of cancer treatment and ongoing surveillance, and c) increase the number of requested and received workplace accommodations.

II. Compare employment status (employed vs non-employed) between the treatment and control arms.

III. Compare weekly hours of work between the treatment and control arms.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

Arm I: Patients receive a DVD containing educational information about patients' legal rights in the workplace and communication skills demonstrated through four scenarios depicting a variety of employer-employee communication challenges for patients, provided by the Legal Information Network for Cancer (LINC) group.

Arm II: Patients receive information about the LINC group

After completion of study, patients are followed up at 4, 12, and 52 weeks.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients with a new, primary diagnosis of a solid tumor
* Employed full- or part-time at the time of enrollment
* English-speaking
* Able to participate in telephone interviews
* Able to view a 1-hour DVD
* Patients must have a treatment plan that includes chemotherapy and be within 2 weeks of initiating chemotherapy

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with prior cancer except non-melanoma skin cancer

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes in perceived self-efficacy pre-intervention and post-intervention.
timeFrame: Baseline to up to 52 weeks
measure: Compare requested pre-intervention measures to received post-intervention measures.
timeFrame: Baseline to up to 52 weeks
measure: Compare longitudinal changes in knowledge scale before and after combination information and communication skills training.
timeFrame: Baseline to up to 52 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Compare the amount of weekly hours worked between treatment and control arms.
timeFrame: Baseline to up to 52 weeks
measure: Compare the amount of employed vs non-employed subjects between treatment and control arms.
timeFrame: Baseline to up to 52 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Richmond
country: United States
facility: Virginia Commonwealth University/Massey Cancer Center
state: Virginia
Study officials:
affiliation: Massey Cancer Center
name: Richard Brown
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: