NCT04452825

A New Psychotherapy Intervention for Older Cancer Patients

Cancer and Aging Reflections for Elders (CARE): A Geriatric-Specific Psychotherapy for Older Adults With Cancer

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 459 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 70 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study is being done to see if a new psychotherapy intervention called Cancer and Aging: Reflections for Elders (CARE) can effectively treat depression and distress in older cancer patients. CARE is a 5-session intervention that takes place over the phone. This study will compare CARE with the Social Work and Supportive Counseling (SWSC) intervention, which also takes place over the phone. SWSC is a standard psychotherapeutic intervention that has been shown to be a supportive and effective form of treatment for distress for patients with cancer. The researchers will look at which intervention is more effective in treating depression and distress in participants.

Conditions

• Cancer

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cancer and Aging: Reflections for Elders (CARE) Intervention	For full participants (not training case participants) five sessions (45-60 minutes each) will be delivered over an 8-week period (+4 weeks). Following these sessions, four brief booster sessions (20-30 minutes each) will be delivered at a rate of approximately one per month to extend the interventions to 6 months (+3 months).
BEHAVIORAL	Social Work and Supportive Counseling (SWSC) Intervention	The SWSC will include a social work assessment and follow-up augmented with additional components of supportive psychotherapy that have been shown to be an effective form of treatment for patients with cancer. For full participants (not training case participants) five sessions (45-60 minutes each) will be delivered over an 8-week period (+4 weeks). Following these sessions, four brief booster sessions (20-30 minutes each) will be delivered at a rate of approximately one per month to extend the interventions to 6 months (+3 months). Training case participants will follow a slightly condensed schedule.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-02-01
• Primary completion: 2027-05-31
• Completion: 2027-05-31
• First posted: 2020-06-30
• Last updated: 2026-04-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States