Clinical trial NCT05785494: Web-based Support for Family Caregivers of Patients With Advanced Cancer
Official title: Web-based Support to Promote Preparedness for Caregiving Among Family Caregivers of Patients With Advanced Cancer
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Family
End of Life
Cancer Metastatic
Chronic Illness
Keywords: Palliative care
Family caregiver
Web-based support
Intervention
Lead sponsor: Ersta Sköndal University College
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-03-27
Enrollment: 204
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: For family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer, preparedness for caregiving is crucial for maintaining health and quality of life both during care and after the death of the patient. This project contributes to earlier research funded by the Swedish Cancer Society, about an intervention that was delivered by a multi-professional team and proved to be successful in promoting preparedness. However, such interventions are often costly and logistically challenging. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has further significantly raised the need for digital alternatives in healthcare. As a possible solution, an evidence-based intervention, narstaende.se, has been developed consisting of recorded videos of conversations between clinicians and family caregivers (actors), linked to informational texts and a moderated chat forum. The intervention was pilot tested during 2020 and 2021, exploring feasibility, content and family caregivers' experiences. As preliminary results are promising, the intervention is taken one step further and tested as a web-based intervention in a larger scale.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Being a family caregiver, over 18 years of age, to a person with life-threatening illness cared for in specialized home care.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Not being able to communicate in Swedish

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Preparedness for caregiving
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Quality of Life
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
measure: Change in health
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
measure: Change in Anxiety and Depression
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
measure: Change in pre-loss grief
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
measure: Change in post-loss grief
timeFrame: At baseline (before intervention), change from baseline after 4-6 weeks (follow-up 1) and after 8-10 weeks (follow-up 2)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Stockholm
country: Sweden
facility: Marie Cederschiöld University
Study officials:
References: