Understanding Quality of Life Among Patients with Cancer Receiving Palliative Care

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Cancer
• Interventions: Behavioral: Offering Additional Resources to Promote Symptom Management

• Registration Number: NCT05331625
• Lead Sponsor: Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled trial will assess the effects on quality of life of two approaches to symptom management among new patients referred to a palliative care oncology clinic.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-04-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-04-11
• Study First Posted: 2022-04-15
• Study Start: 2022-11-03
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-02-19
• Last Update Posted: 2025-02-21
• Primary Completion: 2025-08
• Study Completion: 2025-08

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 208

Inclusion Criteria

• Be a new patient at an outpatient palliative care clinic
• Resident of Pennsylvania
• Over 18 years of age

Exclusion Criteria

• Prior use of certain symptom focused therapies
• Currently pregnant

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention	Offering Additional Resources to Promote Symptom Management	Participants in this group will consent to participate in a study about quality of life for patients with cancer seeking outpatient palliative care. They will be seen in a palliative care oncology clinic at which time they will be offered additional resources to promote symptom management. They will be asked to complete a series of surveys every two weeks for 16 weeks which will assess their quality of life, symptoms, and medication use.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Quality of Life - McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire	Baseline - 16 weeks	Quality of life will be measured through the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire Revised (MQOL-R). The questionnaire is 15 questions assessing overall and specific areas of quality of life.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Acceptability of Accessing Additional Resources for Symptom Management	Baseline - 16 weeks	Acceptability will be measured by whether participants accessed the additional resources for symptom management.
Medication Use	Baseline - 16 weeks	Medication use will be measured through a medication diary created for the study. The medication diary asks participants about recent medications, amounts, and dosages.
Hospital-Free Days	Baseline - 16 weeks	Hospital-free days will be measured through examination of participant's electronic health record.
Feasibility of Accessing Additional Resources for Symptom Management	Baseline - 16 weeks	Feasibility will be measured by whether participants accessed the additional resources for symptom management.
Symptom Severity	Baseline - 16 weeks	Symptom severity will be measured through the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS). The survey is 10 questions assessing the severity of pain, nausea, depression, etc. on a 0 to 10 scale-in which a 0 representing best possible state/symptom absence and a 10 representing worst possible state.
Mortality	Baseline - 16 weeks	Mortality will be measured through examination of participant's electronic health record.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Pennsylvania; 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States