Narrative Medicine for Improving Well-Being in Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancers

Not Applicable

Recruiting

Interventions: Procedure: Discussion
Other: Interview
Other: Survey Administration

Brief Summary: This clinical trial assesses whether narrative medicine methods may improve the sense of well-being among gastrointestinal (GI) (digestive system) cancer patients. Narrative medicine is a clinical approach where providers can use a patient's own narrative (perspective) of their illness to promote healing and resilience. By applying narrative medicine's main tool, close reading, to clinical practice, clinicians learn to listen and attend to patients more deeply. This allows for freer communication and the creation of a healthcare encounter that centers on the psychological and emotional well being of the patient in addition to their medical conditions. Narrative medicine can include close reading, creative or reflective writing, and discussion. These methods may help patients with GI cancer to reflect on their life stories, both inside and outside of their illness experience, and help them gather skills to optimize their well-being.

Detailed Description: PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To assess the feasibility of implementing narrative medicine tools in serial workshops with patients with malignancy.

II. To determine if narrative medicine interventions improve markers and expressions of well-being.

DESCRIPTIVE OBJECTIVES:

I. To estimate changes in markers and expressions of well-being after 3 sessions of narrative medicine intervention.

II. To determine, through qualitative methods, if patients find benefit from the intervention regarding their well-being.

III. To decide whether to expand these kinds of interventions to a larger study with control group.

OUTLINE:

Patients participate in narrative medicine sessions over 60 minutes once every 2 weeks (Q2W) for 3 sessions.

After completion of study intervention, patients are followed up at 1 and 3 months.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Patients with diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancy actively receiving infusional therapy for cancer.
Age >= 18 years.
English speaking with ability to participate in reading and writing questionnaires and implementation tools.
Performance Status =< Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 3.

Exclusion Criteria

Altered mental status or other cognitive impairment, organic or drug induced that would limit ability to participate in the evaluation.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Supportive Care (narrative medicine sessions)	Discussion	Patients participate in narrative medicine sessions over 60 minutes Q2W for 3 sessions.
Supportive Care (narrative medicine sessions)	Interview	Patients participate in narrative medicine sessions over 60 minutes Q2W for 3 sessions.
Supportive Care (narrative medicine sessions)	Survey Administration	Patients participate in narrative medicine sessions over 60 minutes Q2W for 3 sessions.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of participants who complete the narrative medicine sessions	Up to 3 months	To determine the intervention feasibility, the number of participants who complete the narrative medicine sessions will be tracked.
Change in well-being scores	Up to 3 months	Will be evaluated using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Revised Version (ESAS-r). The total score ranges from 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating worse outcomes.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method

Locations (1): USC / Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
🇺🇸
Los Angeles, California, United States

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