A Study of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers to People With Cancer
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers, Supportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Caregiver Burden, Caregiver Burnout, Caregiver Stress Syndrome. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy to Meet Palliative Care Needs of Cancer Caregivers
Overview
Participants will complete 1 set of questionnaires about 2 weeks before beginning their Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers/MCP-C or standard Supportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers/SP-C sessions. These questionnaires will ask about participants' sense of meaning and purpose in life, spiritual well-being, depression and/or anxiety, and social support. Participants will then be assigned to receive either MCP-C or SP-C for 7 sessions. Participants will complete additional sets of questionnaires about 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after their last session of MCP-C or SP-C. It will take between 35 and 50 minutes to complete each set of questionnaires. After participants complete the MCP-C or SP-C sessions and all 4 sets of questionnaires, their participation in this study will end. If participants decide not to complete all 7 sessions, they may still choose to complete the questionnaires. Participants may remain in the study and continue to receive all 7 sessions of MCP-C or SP-C even if their loved one passes away.
Interventions
- Behavioral Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers
MCP-C is a stakeholder-informed, innovative, manualized intervention designed to assist caregivers to connect to a sense of meaning and purpose in life, despite the challenges of caregiving. - Behavioral Supportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers
Standard of care supportive psychotherapy
Primary outcome measures
- Number of participants with improved primary outcomes [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
- Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
- FACIT Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
Secondary outcome measures (4)
- Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
- Benefit Finding Scale (BFS) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
- Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
- Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (FSSQ) [Time frame: Up to 1 year]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Age 18 or over;
- As per self-report, a current caregiver to a patient with Stage III or IV solid tumor cancer currently receiving medical care of any kind (e.g., curative, palliative);
- Experiences distress as evidenced by a score of 4 or greater on the Distress Thermometer (DT) and an indication that this distress is associated with caregiving;
- As per self-report, can read and understand English;
- As per self-report, residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Florida, or have the ability to complete sessions while complying with current telehealth regulations.
Exclusion criteria
- Participant does not have a reasonable understanding of the study activities by the judgment of the consenting professional;
- Engagement in regular individual psychotherapeutic support that the participant is unable or unwilling to put on hold for the course of treatment.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
Study locations
United States · 8 centers
- University of Miami (Data Collection AND Data Analysis) — Miami
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (Limited Protocol Activities) — Basking Ridge
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (Limited protocol activities) — Middletown
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (Limited Protocol Activities) — Montvale
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Suffolk-Commack (Limited protocol activity) — Commack
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester (Consent only) — Harrison
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — New York
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (Limited Protocol Activites) — Rockville Centre
Publications
- Applebaum AJ, Walsh LE, Zaider T, Baser RE, Loschiavo MJ, Breitbart WS, Lichtenthal WG. Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Cancer Caregivers: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2026 Mar 21;27(1):336. doi: 10.1186/s13063-026-09621-7. PMID 41864988
- Applebaum AJJ, Walsh LE, Zaider T, Baser RE, Loschiavo MJ, Breitbart WS, Lichtenthal WG. Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Cancer Caregivers Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2026 Feb 4:rs.3.rs-7963562. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7963562/v1. PMID 41674824
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06307535 · STUDY-24-01356