NCT03553784

Brief Summary

There are 21,500 gynaecological cancers diagnosed in the UK each year. These are often diagnosed later than common cancers, which is predictive of low survival and high psychological distress. There are few studies published which accurately map the profile of distress and supportive care needs in gynaecological cancer patients, nor which test psychological interventions to support this group. This study will use a non-randomised controlled trial design to explore the potential benefits of taking part in a psychological intervention designed in this group of women. The intervention is group-delivered and runs for eight weeks. It is delivered by psychologists, psychological wellbeing practitioners, and cancer nurse specialists. The investigators will use validated self-report questionnaires to assess how helpful this intervention is at reducing distress and improving quality of life in the participants. This will be done in comparison with a treatment-as-usual control group recruited from a second clinical site. This second group of participants will not receive the psychological intervention, but they will complete the same assessments, at the same time points. To ensure participants are well supported, data collection in control control group participants will be done by telephone interview rather than self-report questionnaires. Both groups of participants will undertake a three-month follow-up assessment to check the longer-term effectiveness of the psychological intervention.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
32

participants targeted

Target at P25-P50 for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started Apr 2018

Typical duration for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Start

First participant enrolled

April 3, 2018

Completed
2 months until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

May 30, 2018

Completed
13 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

June 12, 2018

Completed
1.6 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

January 30, 2020

Completed
3 months until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

May 2, 2020

Completed
Last Updated

May 11, 2020

Status Verified

May 1, 2020

Enrollment Period

1.8 years

First QC Date

May 30, 2018

Last Update Submit

May 8, 2020

Conditions

Keywords

CancerTherapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

    A nine-item screening tool to assess symptoms of depression in the responding individual (Kroenke, Spitzer, \& Williams, 2001). The PHQ-9 uses a four-point rating scale (ranging from 0 to 3) asking how often in the last two weeks participants have experienced symptoms pertaining to appetite, concentration, energy hopelessness, and suicidality. Higher scores indicate higher levels of distress. The PHQ-9 has been established as a valid and reliable measure of depression severity (Kroenke et al., 2001).

    last 2 weeks

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7)

    A seven-item screening tool to assess symptoms of anxiety in the responding individual (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, \& Löwe, 2006). The GAD-7 uses a four-point rating scale (ranging from 0 to 3) asking how often in the last two weeks participants have experienced symptoms pertaining to feeling anxious, worried, difficulty relaxing, and irritability. Higher scores indicate higher distress. The GAD-7 has been established as an accurate measure of anxiety (Swinson, 2006).

    last 2 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

  • The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G)

    last 7 days

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Group delivered Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Other: Group delivered Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

No intervention.

Interventions

The intervention is group-delivered, low-intensity CBT similar to that used in IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) Services in England. This intervention is already being offered as part of standard care at the Intervention site, and will not be altered by the study protocol, other than the requirement to complete a few more questionnaires. The intervention group meets weekly for eight weeks, and is facilitated by a clinical psychologist, a psychological well-being practitioner and a clinical nurse specialist from the medical oncology team. Content of the intervention is broad CBT, combining aspects of second-wave CBT, with elements of Narrative Therapy and ACT.

Intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

Age16 Years+
Sexfemale(Gender-based eligibility)
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsChild (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Must be over the age of 16.
  • Must have received a gynecological cancer diagnosis.
  • Must have completed first line treatment within four months of the study start date (not restricted to any specific modality of treatment).
  • Must be able to speak English.
  • Must be able to provide consent.

You may not qualify if:

  • Any patients that are unlikely to survive for the full five-month duration of the study.
  • Any patient who does not have sufficient English language ability to complete data collection.
  • Any patients who are notable to provide consent will not be included as this group would be unlikely to be able to complete data collection even if adjustments to the consent procedure were made.

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Chester Research Unit for the Psychology of Health

Chester, Cheshire, CH1 4BJ, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (1)

  • Hulbert-Williams NJ, Hulbert-Williams L, Flynn RJ, Pendrous R, MacDonald-Smith C, Mullard A, Swash B, Evans G, Price A. Evaluating process and effectiveness of a low-intensity CBT intervention for women with gynaecological cancer (the EPELIT Trial). AMRC Open Res. 2021 Mar 29;3:12. doi: 10.12688/amrcopenres.12971.1. eCollection 2021.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neoplasms

Study Officials

  • Nicholas J Hulbert-Williams, PhD

    University of Chester

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
NON RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE CARE
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Model Details: A pragmatic non-randomized controlled design.
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
PI Title
Professor

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

May 30, 2018

First Posted

June 12, 2018

Study Start

April 3, 2018

Primary Completion

January 30, 2020

Study Completion

May 2, 2020

Last Updated

May 11, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-05

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

An anonymised dataset will be prepared once our study is completed, primarily to ensure that access can be provided to journal editors and peer reviewers if requested through the publishing and dissemination process. We would consider requests to share this data with other research teams, provided that individual participants have consented to this . In releasing such data we will include self-report psychological measures, demographics as reported to the research team by the participant, and clinical data as extracted from patient records. We will not release information on hospital site, simply reporting that participants were recruited from anonymised UK hospitals. Thus, without access to how these match NHS records, it ought not to be possible to identify individuals from this dataset. This is carefully explained to participants in the study information sheets as an assurance of commitment to participant anonymity.

Shared Documents
STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
Time Frame
We will make data available to others wishing to verify our analyses from the end of the study onward. We will impose a 24-month embargo after study end before releasing data for use for new analyses to other research teams.
Access Criteria
To be developed by our Study Steering Group nearer to the end of study completion

Locations