Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy to Meet Palliative Care Needs of Cancer Caregivers
Summary
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.
Arms & interventions
- BehavioralMeaning-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.
- BehavioralSupportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers
Standard of care supportive psychotherapy
Outcome measures
Primary
Number of participants with improved primary outcomes
Evaluate the efficacy of MCP-C versus SP-C in improving primary outcomes (i.e., sense of meaning in life, spiritual well-being) immediately post-treatment and explore maintenance in gains up to 1 year.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R)
Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) - used to measure sense of meaning in life. The LAP-R is a 48-item instrument. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Full scale ranges from 30 to 210 with a higher score indicating a greater sense of meaning in life and a more positive attitude towards life.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
FACIT Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS)
The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) - used to measure spiritual well-being. The SWBS is a 12-item instrument. Each item is scored from 1 to 5. Negatively worded items are reverse scored. The measure generates two sub-scales: Faith/Spirituality (0-16) and Meaning/Peace (0-32). Full scale ranges from 0 to 48. Higher scores indicate a greater sense of spiritual well-being.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Secondary
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
Study locations (8)
University of Miami (Data Collection AND Data Analysis)
Miami, Florida, 33136
Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (Limited Protocol Activities)
Basking Ridge, New Jersey, 07920
Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (Limited protocol activities)
Middletown, New Jersey, 07748
Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (Limited Protocol Activities)
Montvale, New Jersey, 07645
Memorial Sloan Kettering Suffolk-Commack (Limited protocol activity)
Commack, New York, 11725
Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester (Consent only)
Harrison, New York, 10604
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York, 10065
Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (Limited Protocol Activites)
Rockville Centre, New York, 11553
References
- 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.(PubMed)
- 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.(PubMed)