Training Model to Advance Support of the Family as a Caregiving System in the Inpatient Oncology Setting

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Support of the Family as a Caregiving System
• Interventions: Behavioral: Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training; Behavioral: questionnaires

• Registration Number: NCT01805609
• Lead Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to provide a communication training program to inpatient nurses and social workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in order to help them assist caregiving families. The importance of this training program is that it aims to teach nurses and social workers how and when to respond more effectively and compassionately to challenges faced by caregiving families. One of the goals of this program is to address family support needs during a patient's hospitalization.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2013-02
• Study First Submitted: 2013-02-28
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-03-04
• Study First Posted: 2013-03-06
• Status Verified: 2025-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-03
• Last Update Posted: 2025-03-04
• Primary Completion: 2026-02
• Study Completion: 2026-02

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 80

Inclusion Criteria

• Participating Providers:
• Provider is an MSKCC acute care advanced practice nurse and/or inpatient social worker as per self-report.
• Plans to attend at least 4/6 the didactic training sessions, and 3/6 consolidation sessions as per self-report.

A patient will be approached if:

• Patient has been admitted to an inpatient service at MSKCC.
• Patient is able to designate at least one close person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate. In the case that the patient is a minor (age 7-17 yrs), s/he will need to designate at least one close, adult person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate.

Family members will be approached if:

• They were identified as a close other (including a family friend) involved in the care of an admitted patient on a participating provider's floor

Exclusion Criteria

• Evidence of cognitive impairment severe enough to preclude completing survey instruments as per clinical or research staff judgment or EMR.
• Determined to not be appropriate for this study as per clinical judgment. Anyone, patient or family member, who is younger than 12 years old.
• Anyone, patient or family member, who does not speak English.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training	Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training	This is a new training curriculum for inpatient oncology providers called Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, a program designed to teach MSKCC inpatient staff to address family-level concerns during acute hospitalization. The WCF training will teach staff to recognize and inquire about areas of family distress that are likely to impact the caregiving process; to provide brief, supportive interventions, and/or to transition families to specialized support services when needed. We will provide staff with skills to address especially challenging family situations (e.g., noncompliance with medical care, conflict, poor communication) in collaborative and compassionate ways. We will teach clinicians to intervene and respond more effectively when problematic relationships develop within families or between families and larger systems (e.g., medical team, institutional programs).
Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training	questionnaires	This is a new training curriculum for inpatient oncology providers called Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, a program designed to teach MSKCC inpatient staff to address family-level concerns during acute hospitalization. The WCF training will teach staff to recognize and inquire about areas of family distress that are likely to impact the caregiving process; to provide brief, supportive interventions, and/or to transition families to specialized support services when needed. We will provide staff with skills to address especially challenging family situations (e.g., noncompliance with medical care, conflict, poor communication) in collaborative and compassionate ways. We will teach clinicians to intervene and respond more effectively when problematic relationships develop within families or between families and larger systems (e.g., medical team, institutional programs).

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Provider outcomes	2 years	which include observed changes in skills (Family Skills Adherence Scale) and subjective confidence level (Confidence in Family Skills Questionnaire) in conducting a family-centered psychosocial consultation with a caregiving family

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
patient and/or family members'outcomes	2 years	which include caregivers' satisfaction with aspects of psychosocial care (Satisfaction with Emotional Support Scale measure), perceived quality of communication about illness (Family Session Communication Measure) and perceived alliance with the participating nurse or social worker (Family Alliance Scale)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States