Support of the Family as a Caregiving SystemNCT01805609
Training Model to Advance Support of the Family as a Caregiving System in the Inpatient Oncology Setting
A study testing Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training and questionnaires in people with Support of the Family as a Caregiving System, run by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The purpose of this study is to provide a communication training program to inpatient nurses and social workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in order to help them assist caregiving families. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 12 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Support of the Family as a Caregiving System
- What is being tested?
- Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training and questionnaires
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 80 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- Feb 2013to Feb 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 12 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Participating Providers:
- Provider is an MSKCC acute care advanced practice nurse and/or inpatient social worker as per self-report.
- Plans to attend at least 4/6 the didactic training sessions, and 3/6 consolidation sessions as per self-report.
- A patient will be approached if:
- Patient has been admitted to an inpatient service at MSKCC.
- Patient is able to designate at least one close person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate. In the case that the patient is a minor (age 7-17 yrs), s/he will need to designate at least one close, adult person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate.
- Family members will be approached if:
- They were identified as a close other (including a family friend) involved in the care of an admitted patient on a participating provider's floor
Who cannot join
- Evidence of cognitive impairment severe enough to preclude completing survey instruments as per clinical or research staff judgment or EMR.
- Determined to not be appropriate for this study as per clinical judgment. Anyone, patient or family member, who is younger than 12 years old.
- Anyone, patient or family member, who does not speak English.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York, 10065
About this study
The purpose of this study is to provide a communication training program to inpatient nurses and social workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in order to help them assist caregiving families. The importance of this training program is that it aims to teach nurses and social workers how and when to respond more effectively and compassionately to challenges faced by caregiving families. One of the goals of this program is to address family support needs during a patient's hospitalization.
- Being tested
- Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, questionnaires
- Keywords
- practice nurse, clinical Nurse, inpatient staff, inpatient social worker, didactic training sessions, 13-030
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) trainingBehavioural
Also called Participants will be asked to attend at least 3/6 supervision meetings, which will feature a case presentation with consultation in a peer group format., Once they complete the sessions they will receive a Letter of Recognition as documentation that they participated in this training.
Training curriculum will be comprised of 2 phases to be attended sequentially: (l) The Didactic Phase will consist of 6 twice a month seminars, administered over a 3 month period. Each seminar includes a 1 hour lecture \& discussion followed by 1 hour of role-play exercises; Lecture segments may include short training videos which Dr. Zaider uses in the nurses' training module she teaches through the Communication Skills Laboratory. The teaching portion of the didactic sessions of the training may also be videotaped as a reference point for curriculum review. Will explain to the providers that videotapes will only be available to study staff \& that the role play portion will not be recorded; (2) Consolidation Phase will consist of 6 twice a month peer-group supervision meetings for ongoing consultation on family cases, also held across a 3 month period. Length of these consolidations sessions will be up to 2 hours.
questionnairesBehavioural
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training | Experimental | This is a new training curriculum for inpatient oncology providers called Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, a program designed to teach MSKCC inpatient staff to address family-level concerns during acute hospitalization. The WCF training will teach staff to recognize and inquire about areas of family distress that are likely to impact the caregiving process; to provide brief, supportive interventions, and/or to transition families to specialized support services when needed. We will provide staff with skills to address especially challenging family situations (e.g., noncompliance with medical care, conflict, poor communication) in collaborative and compassionate ways. We will teach clinicians to intervene and respond more effectively when problematic relationships develop within families or between families and larger systems (e.g., medical team, institutional programs). Receives: Behavioral: Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training; Behavioral: questionnaires |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Provider outcomes
which include observed changes in skills (Family Skills Adherence Scale) and subjective confidence level (Confidence in Family Skills Questionnaire) in conducting a family-centered psychosocial consultation with a caregiving family
Measured: 2 years
Secondary outcomes (1)
patient and/or family members'outcomes
which include caregivers' satisfaction with aspects of psychosocial care (Satisfaction with Emotional Support Scale measure), perceived quality of communication about illness (Family Session Communication Measure) and perceived alliance with the participating nurse or social worker (Family Alliance Scale)
Measured: 2 years
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted6 Mar 2013 (estimated)
- Study startFeb 2013
- Primary completionFeb 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionFeb 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Support of the Family as a Caregiving SystemStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 80 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ackerman Institute for Family
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Talia Zaider, PhD, Principal investigator, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01805609
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 13-030
- Status last verified
- Mar 2026
- First submitted
- 28 Feb 2013
- Last updated
- 5 Mar 2026
- Results posted
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 5 Mar 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Training Model to Advance Support of the Family as a Caregiving System in the Inpatient Oncology Setting
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01805609
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 13-030
- Keywords
- practice nurse, clinical Nurse, inpatient staff, inpatient social worker, didactic training sessions, 13-030
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 80 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ackerman Institute for Family
- Study start
- Feb 2013 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Feb 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Feb 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 6 Mar 2013 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The purpose of this study is to provide a communication training program to inpatient nurses and social workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in order to help them assist caregiving families. The importance of this training program is that it aims to teach nurses and social workers how and when to respond more effectively and compassionately to challenges faced by caregiving families. One of the goals of this program is to address family support needs during a patient's hospitalization.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training | Experimental | Behavioral: Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, Behavioral: questionnairesThis is a new training curriculum for inpatient oncology providers called Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training, a program designed to teach MSKCC inpatient staff to address family-level concerns during acute hospitalization. The WCF training will teach staff to recognize and inquire about areas of family distress that are likely to impact the caregiving process; to provide brief, supportive interventions, and/or to transition families to specialized support services when needed. We will provide staff with skills to address especially challenging family situations (e.g., noncompliance with medical care, conflict, poor communication) in collaborative and compassionate ways. We will teach clinicians to intervene and respond more effectively when problematic relationships develop within families or between families and larger systems (e.g., medical team, institutional programs). |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 12 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (8 listed)
- Participating Providers:
- Provider is an MSKCC acute care advanced practice nurse and/or inpatient social worker as per self-report.
- Plans to attend at least 4/6 the didactic training sessions, and 3/6 consolidation sessions as per self-report.
- Patient has been admitted to an inpatient service at MSKCC.
- Patient is able to designate at least one close person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate. In the case that the patient is a minor (age 7-17 yrs), s/he will need to designate at least one close, adult person who is involved in the patient's care and is willing to participate.
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Evidence of cognitive impairment severe enough to preclude completing survey instruments as per clinical or research staff judgment or EMR.
- Determined to not be appropriate for this study as per clinical judgment. Anyone, patient or family member, who is younger than 12 years old.
- Anyone, patient or family member, who does not speak English.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) trainingAlso: Participants will be asked to attend at least 3/6 supervision meetings, which will feature a case presentation with consultation in a peer group format., Once they complete the sessions they will receive a Letter of Recognition as documentation that they participated in this training.Training curriculum will be comprised of 2 phases to be attended sequentially: (l) The Didactic Phase will consist of 6 twice a month seminars, administered over a 3 month period. Each seminar includes a 1 hour lecture \& discussion followed by 1 hour of role-play exercises; Lecture segments may include short training videos which Dr. Zaider uses in the nurses' training module she teaches through the Communication Skills Laboratory. The teaching portion of the didactic sessions of the training may also be videotaped as a reference point for curriculum review. Will explain to the providers that videotapes will only be available to study staff \& that the role play portion will not be recorded; (2) Consolidation Phase will consist of 6 twice a month peer-group supervision meetings for ongoing consultation on family cases, also held across a 3 month period. Length of these consolidations sessions will be up to 2 hours. | Behavioural | Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training |
| questionnaires | Behavioural | Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training |
Primary outcome
Provider outcomes
Time frame: 2 years
which include observed changes in skills (Family Skills Adherence Scale) and subjective confidence level (Confidence in Family Skills Questionnaire) in conducting a family-centered psychosocial consultation with a caregiving family
1 secondary outcome
patient and/or family members'outcomes
Time frame: 2 years
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 5 Mar 2026.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterLink provided by the sponsor.
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Talia Zaider, PhD principal investigator
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Working with the Caregiving Family (WCF) training and questionnaires in people with Support of the Family as a Caregiving System, run by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Mar 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Provider outcomes (time frame: 2 years). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 5 Mar 2026.