Cancer Parenting Program for the Enhancement of the Quality of Life of Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Children

Enhancing Connections-Palliative Care: A Cancer Parenting Program for Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Children

This trial examines the usefulness of two educational programs for parents with late-stage cancer who have a 5 - 17 year old child. The programs are designed to enhance the quality of the parent-child relationship and add to the parent's confidence in managing the impact of their cancer on their child. Educational programs may reduce anxiety and depression and improve the well-being and quality of life of parents with advanced cancers and their children.

Recruitment occurs nationally via referral to the Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium team.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 groups.

GROUP I (ENHANCING CONNECTIONS-PALLIATIVE CARE [EC-PC] PROGRAM): Patients receive the 5-session EC-PC program bi-weekly with a patient educator about ways to help them talk to and support their child.

GROUP II (CONTROL): Patients receive carefully selected educational booklet that discuss ways to talk about their cancer with their child and a scripted phone call from a trained phone counselor on study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents with any type of late-stage, non-curable cancer (determined by TNM stage IV cancer for solid tumors or 2 or more cycles of treatment failure with disease relapse in non-solid tumors)
• All therapies are allowable
• 23 years (yr.) to 68 yr. Age restriction exists for the patient based on parent having a child ages 5-17
• Patient must have a child (5yr. -17 yr.) living in the home at least 50% of the time and residential with non-ill parent or parent surrogate
• Read and write English as one of their languages of choice
• Have access to a telephone
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document. Read and write English as one of their languages of choice

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient is in hospice at time of enrollment
• Non-ill co-parent does not consent to join study