Digital Art Therapy for Young Cancer Survivors

NCT06789666 | Recruiting DMC

• 1 other identifier: LCCC2339
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 15
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a single-site, single-arm, interventional study assessing the feasibility of the ARTCan Therapy Application (App) and whether it is an acceptable means of administering art therapy to young adult cancer survivors. The ARTCan Therapy App guides participants through a 6-week digital art therapy program. Subjects will participate in weekly art therapy prompts guided by the app and will complete weekly mental health quality of life (MHQoL) surveys during the intervention. In addition, baseline and end-of-intervention patient-reported outcome measures (PROMIS-DSF8a) and an acceptability survey will be administered. The hypothesis is that digital art therapy is feasible for young adult cancer survivors with self-reported mood issues and is an acceptable means of administering art therapy in the patient population.

Conditions

Cancer; Pediatric Cancer; Pediatric Malignancies; Pediatric Sarcoma of Soft Tissue; Adolescent and Young Adult With Brain Cancer

Keywords

therapy; art; mental health quality of life; patient-reported outcome; ARTCan application; digital art therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Feasibility of art therapy

  The feasibility of art therapy will be determined by the proportion of participants who complete art therapy. The proportion of participants who complete 4 of the 6 art therapy modules will be determined. A completion rate of 10 out of 15 participants will be deemed feasible.

  Up to 6 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Acceptability of art therapy

  at 6 week

Study Arms (1)

Digital Art Therapy

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants will receive art therapy via the ARTCan App for 6 weeks, and will also be prompted to complete mental health quality of life surveys at baseline and each week, which will be available for the therapist to review.

Behavioral: ARTCan App

Interventions

ARTCan App BEHAVIORAL

The ARTCan App is an art therapy technology application program. The application can be accessed via the web (via computer, phone, or on a device such as an iPad). With the use of the application, participants complete weekly sessions that culminate in an "art" piece. Note that participants are not required to have expertise in drawing; developing art skills or assessing the quality of art pieces is not the focus of the ARTCan program. Subjects will upload a photo of the art they created to this application to show proof of completion of art therapy. They will also answer questions specific to the art therapy theme for the week.

Digital Art Therapy

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• In order to participate in this study a subject must meet all of the eligibility criteria outlined below.
• Written informed assent and parental consent obtained to participate in the study and HIPAA authorization for release of personal health information.
• Subject is willing and able to comply with study procedures based on the judgment of the investigator.
• Age 18-25 years at the time of consent.
• Childhood cancer survivor, defined as having cancer between birth 17 years of age and who has completed cancer treatment.
• Reliable internet connection and access to a computer, smartphone, or iPad to support application and virtual study visits.
• Answers "yes" to the question "Do you experience mood issues (yes or no)?".

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who lack interest in art. Screening question: Are you open to making art on a scale from 1-5 (1 being not at all, and 5 being very much; must score 3 or higher).
• Subjects who lack basic technology skills (Screening question: On a scale of 1-5 (1 being uncomfortable, and 5 being very comfortable), how would you rate your comfort using websites. Must score 3 or higher).
• Subjects unable to provide consent.
• Other conditions or factors which in the opinion of the Pl would not make the patient a good candidate for the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center: lead
• Ian's Friends Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, United States

RECRUITING

Related Links

• Clinical trials at UNC Lineberger

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neoplasms

Study Officials

• Soma Sengupta, MD

  UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Devin McCarthy

CONTACT

919-445-4208; devin_mccarthy@med.unc.edu

Patricia Brock

CONTACT

919-962-8491; patriciabrock@med.unc.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2025
• First Posted: January 23, 2025
• Study Start: April 7, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Last Updated: September 16, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)