Clinical trial · Interventional
Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) Training
Empathic Communication Skills Training to Reduce Lung Cancer Stigma
- 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)
Research indicates that perceived stigma within medical encounters is prevalent and problematic for lung cancer patients' well-being and quality of cancer care. Promoting empathic communication appears to be a potentially effective intervention target to help reduce patients' perceptions of stigma within clinical encounters; however, no formal trainings exist that focus on teaching empathic communication to oncology care providers (OCPs). Building upon favorable findings from a prior R21 (R21CA202793) and the importance of developing interventions to address lung cancer stigma, our goal is to conduct a national trial of empathic communication skills (ECS) training to facilitate improvements in the medical and psychosocial care of patients through de-stigmatizing interactions with OCPs for patients diagnosed with lung cancer.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lung Cancer | Malignant Lung Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Standard of Care participant interaction | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (4)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Oncology Care Providers/OCP-intervention group
- description
- Providers participate in Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Oncology Care Providers/OCP-control group
- description
- Providers complete all study measures and are offered ECS training after data collection is completed at their site.
- interventionNames
- Other: Standard of Care participant interaction
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Participants with Lung Cancer-intervention group
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 100 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: Site Eligibility * Employs at least 15 FTE OCPs (i.e., oncologists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) as per self report * Reports a clinic volume of at least 20 new lung cancer patients per month as per self report OCP Participant Eligibility * OCPs who are thoracic oncology physicians (radiologists, medical oncologists, pulmonologists, and surgeons), NPs, or PAs and currently treating lung cancer patients, as per self-report; * OCP conducts consultations with lung cancer patients, as per self-report; * OCP sees at least 1 lung cancer patient per week, as per self-report; Patient Eligibility * Patient under the care of a participating OCP as per self report; * English and/or Spanish speaking; * In general, which language do you prefer to receive your medical care, English/Spanish/both English and Spanish Equally? * If English, treat as fluent in English, no additional language questions * If Spanish, treat as fluent in Spanish, no additional language questions * If both English and Spanish equally, ask the follow-up questions and go with whichever language is endorsed as best. If endorsed equally, assign to category patient prefers * How well do you speak English? Not at all/ Not well/Well/Very well * How well do you speak Spanish? Not at all/Not well/Well/Very well * Is at least 18 years of age as per self report; * Has a history of suspicious lung mass or confirmed lung cancer diagnosis, as per clinician judgment or medical record note; * Is a former or current smoking as per self report; * Has had no more than 10 prior visits with the participating OCP, as per the medical record and/or self report Exclusion Criteria: Patient Exclusion * Individuals of impaired decision-making capacity as per a clinician's judgment or as documented in the EMR. Site and OCP Exclusion * None
References
Publications (2)
- DERIVEDBanerjee SC, Malling CD, Schofield EA, Carter-Bawa L, Bylund CL, Hamann HA, Parker PA, Shen MJ, Studts JL, Williamson TJ, Ostroff JS. Empathic communication skills training to reduce lung cancer stigma: Study protocol of a cluster randomized control trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Oct;145:107669. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107669. Epub 2024 Aug 23. PMID 39182827
- DERIVEDBanerjee SC, Malling CD, Shen MJ, Williamson TJ, Bylund CL, Studts JL, Mullett T, Carter-Bawa L, Hamann HA, Parker PA, Steliga M, Feldman J, Pantelas J, Borondy-Kitts A, Rigney M, King JC, Fathi JT, Rosenthal LS, Smith RA, Ostroff JS. Getting ready for prime time: Recommended adaptations of an Empathic Communication Skills training intervention to reduce lung cancer stigma for a national multi-center trial. Transl Behav Med. 2023 Sep 28;13(10):804-808. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibad048. PMID 37579304