BACKGROUND: Although psychosocial care has been regarded as central to palliative and supportive care, there have been few empirically tested approaches to individual intervention. AIM: The subjective experience of advanced cancer patients receiving anew manualized brief individual psychotherapy, referred to as Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM), was examined prior to the initiation of a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of this intervention. DESIGN: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients who had a diagnosis of advanced cancer, and who underwent the intervention. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Patients were recruited from a large urban regional cancer center in Toronto, Canada. The 10 interviewees included seven women and three men. All had completed between three to six CALM sessions prior to the interview. RESULTS: The CALM intervention was associated with profound and unique patient-identified benefits and no patient-identified risks or concerns. Five interrelated benefits of the intervention were identified: (1) a safe place to process the experience of advanced cancer; (2) permission to talk about death and dying; (3) assistance in managing the illness and navigating the healthcare system; (4) resolution of relational strain; and (5) an opportunity to 'be seen as a whole person' within the healthcare system. These benefits were regarded by participants as unique in their cancer journey. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from a qualitative study suggest that the CALM intervention provides substantial benefits for patients with advanced cancer prior to the end of life. Findings informed the development of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Although psychosocial care has been regarded as central to palliative and supportive care, there have been few empirically tested approaches to individual intervention. AIM: The subjective experience of advanced cancerpatients receiving a new manualized brief individual psychotherapy, referred to as Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM), was examined prior to the initiation of a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of this intervention. DESIGN: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients who had a diagnosis of advanced cancer, and who underwent the intervention. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Patients were recruited from a large urban regional cancer center in Toronto, Canada. The 10 interviewees included seven women and three men. All had completed between three to six CALM sessions prior to the interview. RESULTS: The CALM intervention was associated with profound and unique patient-identified benefits and no patient-identified risks or concerns. Five interrelated benefits of the intervention were identified: (1) a safe place to process the experience of advanced cancer; (2) permission to talk about death and dying; (3) assistance in managing the illness and navigating the healthcare system; (4) resolution of relational strain; and (5) an opportunity to 'be seen as a whole person' within the healthcare system. These benefits were regarded by participants as unique in their cancer journey. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from a qualitative study suggest that the CALM intervention provides substantial benefits for patients with advanced cancer prior to the end of life. Findings informed the development of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention.
Authors: Barry Rosenfeld; Rebecca Saracino; Kristen Tobias; Melissa Masterson; Hayley Pessin; Allison Applebaum; Robert Brescia; William Breitbart Journal: Palliat Med Date: 2016-07-21 Impact factor: 4.762
Authors: Ashlee R Loughan; Kelcie D Willis; Sarah Ellen Braun; Gary Rodin; Autumn Lanoye; Alexandria E Davies; Dace Svikis; Suzanne Mazzeo; Mark Malkin; Leroy Thacker Journal: J Neurooncol Date: 2022-04-18 Impact factor: 4.506
Authors: Katharina Scheffold; Rebecca Philipp; Dorit Engelmann; Frank Schulz-Kindermann; Christina Rosenberger; Karin Oechsle; Martin Härter; Karl Wegscheider; Florian Lordick; Chris Lo; Sarah Hales; Gary Rodin; Anja Mehnert Journal: BMC Cancer Date: 2015-08-19 Impact factor: 4.430