NCT01723943

Educational Counseling in Improving Communication and Quality of Life in Spouses and Breast Cancer Patients

Psychoeducation for Spouses/Partners of Women With Breast Cancer

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 108 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Washington · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This randomized clinical trial studies educational counseling in improving communication and quality of life in spouses and breast cancer patients. An outpatient education and behavior skills training program may help spouses and patients with breast cancer communicate better and improve quality of life. It is not yet known whether educational counseling is more effective than an educational booklet in improving communication and quality of life.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on spouses' outcome variables. II. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on ill partners (patients') outcome variables. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms. ARM I: Participants receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet, which focuses on ways to understand and deal with marital communication and relationship issues arising from breast cancer diagnosis. ARM II: Participants undergo the Helping Her Heal educational counseling program comprising 5 1-hour sessions 2 weeks apart. SESSION I: Participants learn stress management skills and discover ways stress affects themselves and their partner. SESSION II: Participants practice attentive listening and reduce the tendency to try to distract patients from talking about sad or difficult aspects of the cancer experience. SESSION III: Patients learn to help their spouse talk when she is quiet or withdrawn, to add to their understanding of what she is thinking and feeling, and to add to their ways of supporting her during especially difficult times with the cancer. SESSION IV: Participants learn strategies for physically reconnecting with spouses. SESSION V: Participants review skills from prior sessions, identify strategies he or she will continue to use to manage their personal stress, and identify ways to maintain connection and support. After completion of study, patients are followed up at 3 and 6 months.

Conditions

• Anxiety Disorder
• Depression
• Ductal Breast Carcinoma in Situ
• Lobular Breast Carcinoma in Situ
• Psychosocial Effects of Cancer and Its Treatment
• Stage IA Breast Cancer
• Stage IB Breast Cancer
• Stage II Breast Cancer
• Stage IIIA Breast Cancer
• Stage IIIB Breast Cancer
• Stage IIIC Breast Cancer

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	educational intervention	Receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet
OTHER	counseling intervention	Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program
OTHER	educational intervention	Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program
OTHER	psychosocial support for caregiver	Undergo Helping Her Heal educational counseling program

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-03-01
• Primary completion: 2014-12-01
• Completion: 2014-12-01
• First posted: 2012-11-08
• Last updated: 2018-02-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States