NCT01061801

Spouses/Partners Expressing Their Thoughts After Transplant

Emotional Expression and Cancer Caregivers

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 122 (actual)
• Sponsor: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed description

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.

Conditions

• Cancer
• Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Emotional expression	Caregivers are given the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings regarding the patient's transplant and their role as caregiver

Timeline

• Start date: 2006-08-01
• Primary completion: 2009-07-01
• Completion: 2009-07-01
• First posted: 2010-02-03
• Last updated: 2010-02-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States