Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study

NCT05087576 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 20-1547
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 67
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The Chinese American Family Caregiver Writing Study is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of the Expressive Helping (EH) intervention among Chinese Americans who are providing care for family members undergoing cancer treatment.

Conditions

Mental Health Issue

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Changes in depressive symptoms assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale

  Depressive symptoms will be measured with the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Score ranges from 0-60, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Changes in life satisfaction assessed by the Satisfaction with Life Scale.

  Life satisfaction will be measured by the 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Score ranges from 5-35, with higher scores indicating a better outcome.

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Changes in caregiver quality of life assessed by the Caregiver quality of life index - Cancer

  Caregiver quality of life will be measured by the 35 item Caregiver quality of life index - Cancer (CQOL-C). Score ranges from 0-140, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Changes in post-traumatic growth assessed by the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Changes in sleep quality assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Changes in caregiver strain assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Changes in intrusive thoughts assessed by the Impact of Event scale.

  Baseline to 1-month follow-up and 3-month follow-up

Study Arms (2)

Expressive Helping writing

EXPERIMENTAL

During the first writing session, participants will be informed that people benefit from learning about other cancer caregivers' experiences, and that the first three sessions will consist of writing exercises designed to help them think about their cancer caregiving experiences and to prepare them for writing a helpful letter to other Chinese cancer caregivers during the fourth and final writing session.

Behavioral: Expressive Helping

Caregiving Facts writing

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

During each week, participants in the control group will be asked to write facts about their experience with cancer caregiving (e.g., type of treatment their loved one is receiving) and will be asked to avoid writing about their emotions. Participants in this group will be told that their writing will not be shared with others outside of the research team.

Behavioral: Caregiving Fact writing

Interventions

Expressive Helping BEHAVIORAL

Expressive helping integrates two distinct areas of research showing that emotional disclosure over writing and support giving improves psychological well-being among healthy and clinical populations. Participants write 4 brief structured writing sessions.

Expressive Helping writing

Caregiving Fact writing BEHAVIORAL

Factual Writing has been used with in other writing-based interventions (e.g., expressive writing). It is also completed in 4 brief structured writing sessions.

Caregiving Facts writing

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Over 18 years old
• Of Chinese descent
• Informal (i.e., uncompensated) caregiver of individual diagnosed with cancer

You may not qualify if:

• Inability to read or write English or Traditional/Simplified Chinese

Sponsors & Collaborators

• New York University: lead

Study Sites (1)

New York University

New York, New York, 10003, United States

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 8, 2021
• First Posted: October 21, 2021
• Study Start: October 1, 2020
• Primary Completion: September 18, 2022
• Study Completion: September 18, 2022
• Last Updated: November 2, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)