About this trial
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.
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
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;
Disqualifiers
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.
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers
- Supportive Psychotherapy for Caregivers
Treatment groups
Sponsors and collaborators
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Lead sponsor
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Collaborator
University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Collaborator