Clinical trial · Interventional
Learning Collaborative Versus Technical Assistance in Delivering a Palliative Care Program to Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Caregivers
Implementing Palliative Care: Learning Collaborative vs. Technical Assistance
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
This trial studies the delivery of the ENABLE palliative care program by two different methods called a Virtual Learning Collaborative or Technical Assistance for patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with a serious illness that occurs at the same time as other medical treatment. The purpose of palliative care is to provide relief from symptoms and stress of serious illness, to help patients and their families clarify goals of care, and to focus on social support and spiritual well-being. The focus of the ENABLE palliative care program is on living well, managing stress, patient communication of their personal values and hopes for care, social support, and symptom management. This study may help doctors find the best ways to include palliative care services into their practices and the impact of palliative care on cancer patients and their caregivers' quality of life.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Malignant Solid Neoplasm | Malignant Solid Neoplasm | CURATED_BROADER | 0.78 |
| Metastatic Malignant Solid Neoplasm | Malignant Solid Neoplasm | CURATED_BROADER | 0.78 |
| Recurrent Malignant Solid Neoplasm | Malignant Solid Neoplasm | CURATED_BROADER | 0.78 |
Interventions
Interventions (6)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral, Psychological or Informational Intervention | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Educational Intervention | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Medical Examination Assessment | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Quality-of-Life Assessment | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Survey Administration | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Telephone-Based Intervention | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Group I (ENABLE palliative care program, phone calls, VLC)
- description
- Patients undergo a palliative care assessment, participate in 6 ENABLE phone-based sessions with an ENABLE coach over 20-40 minutes, and monthly follow-up calls for 6 months. Caregivers participate in 3 ENABLE sessions with an ENABLE coach and monthly follow-up calls for 6 months. The practice sites participate in a VLC consisting of group-based learning sessions, coaching, and applied quality improvement data collection, analysis and feedback opportunities monthly for 15 months.
- interventionNames
- Other: Behavioral, Psychological or Informational Intervention
- Other: Educational Intervention
- Procedure: Medical Examination Assessment
- Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
- Other: Survey Administration
- Behavioral: Telephone-Based Intervention
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Group II (ENABLE palliative care program, phone calls, TA)
- description
- Patients undergo a palliative care assessment, participate in 6 ENABLE phone-based sessions with an ENABLE coach over 20-40 minutes, and monthly follow-up calls for 6 months. Caregivers participate in 3 ENABLE sessions with an ENABLE coach and monthly follow-up calls for 6 months. The practice sites undergo practice-based consultation calls with an ENABLE/TA expert monthly for 15 months.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * PRACTICE SITE: All participating practice clusters will be asked to identify one (or more) ENABLE coach as part of study eligibility to deliver the ENABLE program. * PRACTICE SITE: Commitment of the ENABLE coach(es) to be trained to conduct the palliative care assessment (and ENABLE sessions if the practice plans to implement them). * PRACTICE SITE: Desire to implement ENABLE, including presence of an investigator (e.g., primary affiliate principal investigator \[PI\], oncology physician, Cancer Care Delivery Research \[CCDR\] Lead) and/or program administrator/supervisor who are willing to be key contacts. * PRACTICE SITE: Demonstrated support/buy-in from oncology physicians who are willing to enroll patients. * PRACTICE SITE: Agreement of practice leadership and other individuals at the practice cluster to support/participate in the study activities. * PRACTICE SITE: If necessary, willingness to participate in a phone interview to determine capacity to implement the ENABLE program. * INDIVIDUALS AT THE PARTICIPATING PRACTICE: The ENABLE implementation team at each participating practice will include at minimum one ENABLE coach and a coordinator. Other members of the team can include the primary affiliate PI, an oncology physician or investigator, CCDR lead (if different than the coordinator, and/or the program administrator/supervisor) and other professional individuals. * ONCOLOGY PHYSICIAN: Eligible providers at practices sites are oncology physicians (i.e., medical oncologists or radiation oncologists including trainees) caring for oncology patients. If no oncology physicians are available at the practice, other providers (e.g., advanced practice providers \[APPs\]) may take on the responsibilities of the oncology physician as laid out in this protocol. We do not require that all physicians at a practice setting agree to participate. Oncology physicians must work at a participating practice cluster with no plans to leave that practice site or retire at the time of enrollment into the study. Physicians (oncologists) may serve in the ENABLE coach role and perform the palliative care assessment, ENABLE sessions and/or monthly follow-up calls per practice discretion if they have completed appropriate training. * ENABLE COACH: All participating practice clusters will be required to identify one (or more) ENABLE coaches as part of study eligibility to deliver the ENABLE program. The ENABLE coach is responsible for ensuring the ENABLE sessions and follow-up calls are completed per protocol specifications. * ENABLE COACH: A registered nurse or advanced practice provider (including a nurse practitioner or physician assistant), a physician (e.g., medical and radiation oncologists, including oncology trainees), or other professionals (e.g., social workers, chaplains) with appropriate credentials and experience to deliver ENABLE * ENABLE COACH: Individuals with an appropriate clinical license (i.e., a registered nurse, advanced practice provider, or physician, as defined above) may perform the palliative care assessment and any ENABLE sessions and follow-up calls the practice chooses to deliver * ENABLE COACH: Other professionals (e.g., social workers, chaplains) may deliver ENABLE sessions and monthly follow-up calls for which their credentials and experience are appropriate * ENABLE COACH: ENABLE coaches complete appropriate study training for any content delivered. * PATIENTS: English-speaking as not all patient measures have been validated in other languages. * PATIENTS: Age \>= 18 * PATIENTS: Willing to complete palliative care assessment and ENABLE sessions. * PATIENTS: Diagnosed within the last 90 days with an advanced cancer (defined as a newly diagnosed stage III/IV, recurrence, or progressive solid tumor cancer). Patients can receive any cancer treatment for their advanced cancer while participating in this study. * The 90-day interval refers to when the patient was made aware of their diagnosis. * PATIENTS: Expected survival of at least 6 months. * PATIENTS: Have access to telephone that can receive incoming calls. * PATIENTS: Able to provide informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * PATIENTS: Received previous palliative care services. (Concurrent palliative care is allowed.)
References
Publications (2)
- DERIVEDZubkoff L, Carpenter-Song E, Lyons KD, Odom JN, Khalidi S, Azuero A, Flannery M, Taylor R, Richards J, Mustian K, Wells M, Hancock J, Wojtowicz M, Weiss M, Mohile S, Bakitas MA. A process evaluation of early palliative care implementation in the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2026 Mar 3;10(2):pkag018. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkag018. PMID 41761561
- DERIVEDZubkoff L, Lyons KD, Dionne-Odom JN, Hagley G, Pisu M, Azuero A, Flannery M, Taylor R, Carpenter-Song E, Mohile S, Bakitas MA. A cluster randomized controlled trial comparing Virtual Learning Collaborative and Technical Assistance strategies to implement an early palliative care program for patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers: a study protocol. Implement Sci. 2021 Mar 11;16(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s13012-021-01086-3. PMID 33706770