NCT02970617

Ringing a Bell on the Final Day of Radiation Therapy in Improving the Memory of Distress in Cancer Patients

Are Last Impressions Lasting Impressions? Intervention of Ringing a Bell at the End of Cancer Treatment

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 82 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Southern California · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This clinical trial studies how well ringing a bell on the final day of radiation therapy works in improving the memory of distress in cancer patients. Ringing a bell on the final day of radiation therapy may improve the memory of how painful the treatment was.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine if the simple act of ringing a bell at the end of radiotherapy can improve the retrospective evaluation of distress due to radiotherapy and other prior cancer therapy. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To measure the severity of patients' memory of distress from cancer treatment. II. To assess the relationship between anxiety to actual distress and to remembered distress. III. To assess the relationship between optimism-pessimism personality to actual distress and to remembered distress. IV. To assess patient's cognitive dissonance reduction to actual distress and to remembered distress. OUTLINE: Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 groups. GROUP A (No bell ringing): Patients undergo standard of care radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy. GROUP B (Bell ringing): On the final day of standard of care radiation therapy, patients ring a bell in the clinic. After completion of study, patients are followed up for 7 months.

Conditions

• Distress
• Malignant Neoplasm

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Memory Intervention	Ring bell after final radiation treatment
OTHER	Questionnaire Administration	Ancillary studies

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-08-15
• Primary completion: 2018-11-15
• Completion: 2018-11-15
• First posted: 2016-11-22
• Last updated: 2025-10-07

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States