Clinical trial NCT00711672: Study of the Therapeutic Use of Language in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Official title: Critical Negotiations: Narrative Agreement, Negotiation, and Register Use in Encounters Between Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma and Their Oncologists
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Colorectal Cancer
Keywords: Personal Communication
Doctor Patient Relations
Narrative Medicine
Lead sponsor: Hematology and Oncology Associates of NE Pennsylvania
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2008-07-09
Enrollment: 5
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma and their physicians at a large community cancer center in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to determine if the degree of agreement between patients and their physicians regarding the "story" of the illness correlates with improved patient symptom control and quality of life. Another goal of the study is to examine the actual language used by patients and physicians in a specific clinical situation.

Detailed description: The purpose of this study is to investigate the co-created therapeutic narrative in scheduled office visits between adult patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma and their medical oncologists in a community practice setting. The study will focus on the negotiation of the illness narrative and the semiotic (primarily linguistic) tools employed. The study will involve patients from a large community cancer center from Northeastern Pennsylvania (this center sees about 3,000 new patients each year). About 85% of patients with cancer in the United States are treated in this type of setting (National Cancer Institute, 2007), and so many results from this population are applicable to most cancer patients in the United States. The location of this study makes it very different from the majority of medical anthropological studies that are usually performed in urban academic medical centers or in sites outside of the United States or Western Europe. Although community cancer centers are the location of most of the treatment of patients with cancer in the United States, there are few to no studies published studying this patient population.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients and Physicians at Hematology and Oncology Associates of NE Pennsylvania
* Patients must have metastatic (stage IV) colorectal carcinoma
* Patients must be on treatment for their disease
* Patients must be scheduled for re-staging CT scans
* Patients must be older than 18 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with a diagnosis other than metastatic colorectal carcinoma
* Patients not receiving active treatment or not having re-staging CT scans
* Patients younger than 18 years old

Primary outcomes:
measure: Correlation of degree of "narrative agreement" with validated quality of life measures
timeFrame: 6-8 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Dunmore
country: United States
facility: Hematology and Oncology Associates of Northeastern Pennsylvania, PC
state: Pennsylvania
Study officials:
affiliation: Hematology and Oncology Associates of NE Pennsylvania
name: Christian S Adonizio, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
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