Identifying Family Members in Need of Support While Caregiving and After Loss
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
This screening tool will be used to identify significant relations of patients with advanced medical illness or serious hospitalization and family individuals who lost their loved one and who could use professional support in the future. We are interested in enrolling family members or close friends of patients with advanced medical illness as well as family members or close friends who have lost a loved one. Some screening tools to identify family members who might need support do exist, but the investigators are hoping to develop one that is brief and easier for healthcare providers to use. The information learned in this study will help us refine the screening tool. Family member input will be essential in the development of this screening tool.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Risk Screening tool & Cognitive Interview
|
Behavioral: background questionnaire
Behavioral: bereavement risk screening tool
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- to refine the bereavement risk screening tool and its items based on respondent feedback. [1 year]
we will obtain family member input on the pre- and post-loss versions of the screening tool; we will obtain input from a separate sample of family members on a revised version of the screening tool that incorporates feedback
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
-
As per self-report, 21 years or older
-
As per self-report, has a domestic partner or spouse, child (minor or adult), sibling (sister or brother), parent or close friend diagnosed with any advanced medical illness or who was recently (2 months) or is currently hospitalized for life-threatening injuries or conditions related to a traumatic incident (e.g., car accident, overdose, assault) OR
-
As per self-report, experienced the recent (within 2 months to 3 years) death of a domestic partner or spouse, child (minor or adult), sibling, parent or close friend.
-
Responds "yes" to the question "Can you understand spoken and written English?
-
Agrees to be audio-taped during the cognitive interview [Waves 1 and 2 only] * For Part 2 only: In the event that the patient dies prior to a consenting pre-loss family member completing the study questionnaires, the family member will be eligible for participation in the post-loss group after at least 2 months have passed after the loss
Exclusion Criteria:
-
Significant psychiatric or cognitive disturbance sufficient, in the investigators' judgment, to preclude the completion of the assessment measures or informed consent (i.e., acute psychiatric or neurological symptoms which require individual treatment)
-
Another family member (parent, domestic partner or spouse, sibling, or adult child) has been enrolled in the study
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvary Hospital | Bronx | New York | United States | 10461 |
| 2 | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | New York | New York | United States | 10065 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Calvary Hospital, Bronx, NY
- The New School for Social Research
- Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Additional Information:
Publications
None provided.- 15-095