Using an End-of-life Conversation Game to Engage Patients With Cancer in Advance Care Planning

NCT06028152 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00023029
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 14
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to explore feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of end-of-life conversation game "Hello" as a tool to help individuals with breast, lung, and/or genito-urinary cancers treated at Penn State Cancer Institute and their loved ones perform advance care planning. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• What modifications and/or adaptations are necessary to Hello for use in cancer populations?
• How do different delivery models compare for recruitment in terms of feasibility and efficiency? Participants will:
• Complete pre-game questionnaires
• Play the Hello game
• Complete post-game questionnaires
• Participate in a focus group

Conditions

Breast Cancer; Lung Cancer; Genito Urinary Cancer

Keywords

Advance Care Planning; Advance Directives; Terminal Illness

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Experiences and perceptions of intervention

  Group discussions held with patients with cancer and their caregivers to collect qualitative data on acceptability of the game, necessary modifications for use in patients with cancer and their caregivers, and other feedback and opinions on the game experience.

  Immediately post-intervention

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Advance Care Planning Engagement Measure

  Baseline

• Advance Care Planning Surrogate Decision Maker Engagement Measure

  Baseline

• Satisfaction of Intervention Measure

  Immediately post-intervention

• Acceptability of Intervention Measure

  Immediately post-intervention

Study Arms (1)

Game participants

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants will engage in playing the end-of-life conversation game called "Hello", which involves answering open-ended questions about medical decision making and end-of-life issues.

Other: End-of-life conversation game called "Hello"

Interventions

End-of-life conversation game called "Hello" OTHER

To play 'Hello', players are provided 32 open-ended questions in a prearranged order and an equal number of game chips. A player reads aloud the first question. Players then individually write down their answers, and take turns sharing answers with the group (players can opt to pass). Players control how long they share, what they share, and when they are ready to proceed to the next question. During the conversation, players may choose to acknowledge others for a particularly thoughtful, poignant, or even funny comment by giving them a chip. A simple pre-game coin flip determines whether the player with the most chips 'wins' the game ('heads'), or the player with the least amount of chips wins the game ('tails'). Other Name: Previously named "My Gift of Grace"

Game participants

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Adults (\> 18 years old)
• Able to speak and read English
• Be an individual diagnosed with breast, lung, or genitourinary/prostate cancer as verified by primary oncologist or is the chosen caregiver for a participant with those cancers
• Receives care at Penn State Health or is the chosen caregiver for a participant treated at Penn State Health
• Adults (\> 18 years old)
• Able to speak and read English and/or Spanish
• Be the chosen caregiver for a participant with cancer

You may not qualify if:

• Anyone \<18 years of age
• Anyone unable to speak and read English
• Unable to provide informed consent
• Receives cancer care exclusively outside of Penn State Health
• Anyone \<18 years of age
• Anyone unable to speak and read English
• Unable to provide informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Milton S. Hershey Medical Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Penn State Cancer Institute

Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kimbel K, Hayes M, Bucher M, Calo WA, Garg T, Joshi M, Kuntz H, Murphy TE, VanDyke E, Wasserman E, Van Scoy LJ. Facilitating Advance Care Planning Conversations Among Patients With Cancer and Their Care Partners Utilizing a Conversation Game: A Pilot Study. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2025 Jun;8(6):e70250. doi: 10.1002/cnr2.70250.

  PMID: 40528532 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Breast Neoplasms; Lung Neoplasms; Urogenital Neoplasms

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Breast Diseases; Skin Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Respiratory Tract Neoplasms; Thoracic Neoplasms; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Urogenital Diseases; Male Urogenital Diseases

Study Officials

• Lauren Van Scoy, MD

  Penn State College of Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Medicine, Humanities and Public Health Sciences

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 29, 2023
• First Posted: September 8, 2023
• Study Start: October 31, 2023
• Primary Completion: January 31, 2024
• Study Completion: January 31, 2024
• Last Updated: February 28, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)