CancerNCT06789666
Digital Art Therapy for Young Cancer Survivors
A study testing ARTCan App in people with Cancer and Pediatric Cancer, run by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
This is a single-site, single-arm, interventional study assessing the feasibility of the ARTCan Therapy Application (App) and whether it is an acceptable means of administering art therapy to young adult cancer survivors. The ARTCan Therapy App guides participants through a 6-week digital art therapy program. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 25 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Cancer, Pediatric Cancer, Pediatric Malignancies
- What is being tested?
- ARTCan App
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 2 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 7 Apr 2025to 28 Aug 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
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 18 to 25 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- In order to participate in this study a subject must meet all of the eligibility criteria outlined below.
- Written informed assent and parental consent obtained to participate in the study and HIPAA authorization for release of personal health information.
- Subject is willing and able to comply with study procedures based on the judgment of the investigator.
- Age 18-25 years at the time of consent.
- Childhood cancer survivor, defined as having cancer between birth 17 years of age and who has completed cancer treatment.
- Reliable internet connection and access to a computer, smartphone, or iPad to support application and virtual study visits.
- Answers "yes" to the question "Do you experience mood issues (yes or no)?".
Who cannot join
- All subjects meeting any of the exclusion criteria at baseline will be excluded from study participation.
- Patients who lack interest in art. Screening question: Are you open to making art on a scale from 1-5 (1 being not at all, and 5 being very much; must score 3 or higher).
- Subjects who lack basic technology skills (Screening question: On a scale of 1-5 (1 being uncomfortable, and 5 being very comfortable), how would you rate your comfort using websites. Must score 3 or higher).
- Subjects unable to provide consent.
- Other conditions or factors which in the opinion of the Pl would not make the patient a good candidate for the study.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599
About this study
Official title: Feasibility of a Digital Art Therapy Application Designed to Improve Quality of Life in Young Cancer Survivors
This is a single-site, single-arm, interventional study assessing the feasibility of the ARTCan Therapy Application (App) and whether it is an acceptable means of administering art therapy to young adult cancer survivors. The ARTCan Therapy App guides participants through a 6-week digital art therapy program. Subjects will participate in weekly art therapy prompts guided by the app and will complete weekly mental health quality of life (MHQoL) surveys during the intervention. In addition, baseline and end-of-intervention patient-reported outcome measures (PROMIS-DSF8a) and an acceptability survey will be administered. The hypothesis is that digital art therapy is feasible for young adult cancer survivors with self-reported mood issues and is an acceptable means of administering art therapy in the patient population.
Read the detailed description
The ARTCan application has been designed to define therapy strategies for the care of patients; it emerges from a unique collaboration in the disciplines of design, art, art therapy, and medicine from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The relevance of the application design was to enable the trans-disciplinary team to experiment with proof of the following concepts: 1) technology-based tools and feasibility studies for new lines of research in treatment; 2) research that embraces intellectual diversity by merging the creative disciplines; and 3) addressing issues of health and well-being of patients. This study is testing whether the digital art therapy application "Art Therapy Can Do" (ARTCan) is a feasible means of administering art therapy to young cancer survivors. The study is funded by the Ian's Friends Foundation and the Weatherspoon Foundation.
- Conditions
- Cancer, Pediatric Cancer, Pediatric Malignancies, Pediatric Sarcoma of Soft Tissue, Adolescent and Young Adult With Brain Cancer
- Being tested
- ARTCan App
- Keywords
- therapy, art, mental health quality of life, patient-reported outcome, ARTCan application, digital art therapy
- Medical subject headings
- Neoplasms
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
ARTCan AppBehavioural
The ARTCan App is an art therapy technology application program. The application can be accessed via the web (via computer, phone, or on a device such as an iPad). With the use of the application, participants complete weekly sessions that culminate in an "art" piece. Note that participants are not required to have expertise in drawing; developing art skills or assessing the quality of art pieces is not the focus of the ARTCan program.
Subjects will upload a photo of the art they created to this application to show proof of completion of art therapy. They will also answer questions specific to the art therapy theme for the week.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Art Therapy | Experimental | All participants will receive art therapy via the ARTCan App for 6 weeks, and will also be prompted to complete mental health quality of life surveys at baseline and each week, which will be available for the therapist to review. Receives: Behavioral: ARTCan App |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Feasibility of art therapy
The feasibility of art therapy will be determined by the proportion of participants who complete art therapy. The proportion of participants who complete 4 of the 6 art therapy modules will be determined. A completion rate of 10 out of 15 participants will be deemed feasible.
Measured: Up to 6 weeks
Secondary outcomes (1)
Acceptability of art therapy
Acceptability of art therapy will be measured as the proportion of participants responded to the survey questionnaire administered at the end of the intervention. The survey questionnaire will be taken via a web-based application as post- Intervention Assessment. Question: 1) Please provide your impression of the ARTCan App: A) I like the App B) I don't like the.
Measured: at 6 week
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted23 Jan 2025
- Study start7 Apr 2025
- Primary completion28 Aug 2026
- Study completion28 Aug 2026
Why it stopped: Funding unavailable
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for CancerStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive 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
- 2 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ian's Friends Foundation
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Zev Nakamura, MD, Principal investigator, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06789666
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- LCCC2339
- Status last verified
- Oct 2026
- First submitted
- 17 Jan 2025
- Last updated
- 15 Oct 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 15 Oct 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Feasibility of a Digital Art Therapy Application Designed to Improve Quality of Life in Young Cancer Survivors
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06789666
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- LCCC2339
- Conditions
- Cancer, Pediatric Cancer, Pediatric Malignancies, Pediatric Sarcoma of Soft Tissue, Adolescent and Young Adult With Brain Cancer
- Keywords
- therapy, art, mental health quality of life, patient-reported outcome, ARTCan application, digital art therapy
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- TerminatedReason stopped: Funding unavailable
- Enrolment
- 2 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ian's Friends Foundation
- Study start
- 7 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 28 Aug 2026 (actual)
- Study completion
- 28 Aug 2026 (actual)
- First posted
- 23 Jan 2025 (actual)
- 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.
This is a single-site, single-arm, interventional study assessing the feasibility of the ARTCan Therapy Application (App) and whether it is an acceptable means of administering art therapy to young adult cancer survivors. The ARTCan Therapy App guides participants through a 6-week digital art therapy program. Subjects will participate in weekly art therapy prompts guided by the app and will complete weekly mental health quality of life (MHQoL) surveys during the intervention. In addition, baseline and end-of-intervention patient-reported outcome measures (PROMIS-DSF8a) and an acceptability survey will be administered. The hypothesis is that digital art therapy is feasible for young adult cancer survivors with self-reported mood issues and is an acceptable means of administering art therapy in the patient population.
Detailed description
The ARTCan application has been designed to define therapy strategies for the care of patients; it emerges from a unique collaboration in the disciplines of design, art, art therapy, and medicine from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The relevance of the application design was to enable the trans-disciplinary team to experiment with proof of the following concepts: 1) technology-based tools and feasibility studies for new lines of research in treatment; 2) research that embraces intellectual diversity by merging the creative disciplines; and 3) addressing issues of health and well-being of patients. This study is testing whether the digital art therapy application "Art Therapy Can Do" (ARTCan) is a feasible means of administering art therapy to young cancer survivors. The study is funded by the Ian's Friends Foundation and the Weatherspoon Foundation.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Art Therapy | Experimental | Behavioral: ARTCan AppAll participants will receive art therapy via the ARTCan App for 6 weeks, and will also be prompted to complete mental health quality of life surveys at baseline and each week, which will be available for the therapist to review. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 25 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- In order to participate in this study a subject must meet all of the eligibility criteria outlined below.
- Written informed assent and parental consent obtained to participate in the study and HIPAA authorization for release of personal health information.
- Subject is willing and able to comply with study procedures based on the judgment of the investigator.
- Age 18-25 years at the time of consent.
- Childhood cancer survivor, defined as having cancer between birth 17 years of age and who has completed cancer treatment.
Key exclusion criteria (5 listed)
- All subjects meeting any of the exclusion criteria at baseline will be excluded from study participation.
- Patients who lack interest in art. Screening question: Are you open to making art on a scale from 1-5 (1 being not at all, and 5 being very much; must score 3 or higher).
- Subjects who lack basic technology skills (Screening question: On a scale of 1-5 (1 being uncomfortable, and 5 being very comfortable), how would you rate your comfort using websites. Must score 3 or higher).
- Subjects unable to provide consent.
- Other conditions or factors which in the opinion of the Pl would not make the patient a good candidate for the study.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ARTCan AppThe ARTCan App is an art therapy technology application program. The application can be accessed via the web (via computer, phone, or on a device such as an iPad). With the use of the application, participants complete weekly sessions that culminate in an "art" piece. Note that participants are not required to have expertise in drawing; developing art skills or assessing the quality of art pieces is not the focus of the ARTCan program. Subjects will upload a photo of the art they created to this application to show proof of completion of art therapy. They will also answer questions specific to the art therapy theme for the week. | Behavioural | Digital Art Therapy |
Primary outcome
Feasibility of art therapy
Time frame: Up to 6 weeks
The feasibility of art therapy will be determined by the proportion of participants who complete art therapy. The proportion of participants who complete 4 of the 6 art therapy modules will be determined. A completion rate of 10 out of 15 participants will be deemed feasible.
1 secondary outcome
Acceptability of art therapy
Time frame: at 6 week
Results and safety
The study was stopped early (reason given: Funding unavailable). Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 15 Oct 2026.
- Clinical trials at UNC LinebergerLink provided by the sponsor.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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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.
Zev Nakamura, MD principal investigator
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive 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 ARTCan App in people with Cancer and Pediatric Cancer, run by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive 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 7 inclusion and 5 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: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 15 Oct 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?
The study was stopped early (reason given: Funding unavailable). Results are not available in the source record.
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?
Feasibility of art therapy (time frame: Up to 6 weeks). 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 15 Oct 2026.