Spouses/Partners Expressing Their Thoughts After Transplant

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center122 enrolled

Overview

This study seeks to test a brief psychological intervention for spousal caregivers of cancer patients (specifically, hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients), persons known to experience emotional distress.

This project focuses on spousal caregivers (CGs) of hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors - persons known to report elevated levels of distress as compared to both norms and their patient counterparts. Specific Aims are to: (1) Determine, via experimental manipulation, whether or not CGs of hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients engage in protective buffering, a coping mechanism whereby partners shield patients from illness-related concerns or worries, (2) Examine synchrony or lack thereof, desynchrony, among subjective, expressive and biologic indicators of emotion among spousal CGs, and (3) Test the feasibility and implementation of an emotional expression (EE) exercise designed to enhance psychological and immune functioning among spousal CGs.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

122

Conditions

Cancer Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Interventions

Emotional expressionBEHAVIORAL

Caregivers are given the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings regarding the patient's transplant and their role as caregiver

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 21 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * patients and partners at least 21 years of age * patients and partners English speaking * patients about to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant * patients married or in a committed, cohabiting, heterosexual or homosexual relationship * caregivers in a married or committed, cohabiting, heterosexual or homosexual relationship with the patient * caregivers present at the transplant site and planning to remain so for at least one month Exclusion Criteria: * patient major psychiatric disorder * caregiver presence or history of a neurologic disorder

Locations (1)

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Seattle, Washington, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Self-reported mental and physical health as measured by the Short Form-36 Health Survey

Time frame: baseline, 1-month follow-up, and 4-month follow-up

Marital satisfaction as measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale

Time frame: pre-transplant, baseline, 1-month follow-up, and 4-month follow-up

Self- and partner-reported protective buffering as measured by the Protective Buffering Scale

Time frame: pre-transplant, baseline, 1-month follow-up, and 4-month follow-up

Secondary Outcomes

Emotional experience as assessed by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

Time frame: During intervention/ disclosure sessions

Galvanic skin response (physiological indicator of emotion)

Time frame: During intervention/ disclosure sessions

Emotional expression (facial expression and words uttered)

Time frame: During intervention/ disclosure sessions

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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