Psychosocial Support Interventions for Pediatric Cancer
(PAT Trial)

Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)

Age: Any Age

Sex: Any

Travel: May Be Covered

Time Reimbursement: Varies

Trial Phase: Academic

Waitlist Available

Sponsor: Nemours Children's Clinic

No Placebo Group

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?The diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancer adversely affects multiple levels of the social ecology, including patient and caregiver physical and psychosocial health. It is the strong recommendation from the first Standard of the Psychosocial Standards of Care in Pediatric Cancer that cancer centers engage in universal, systematic, psychosocial risk screening for newly diagnosed patients and their families. Universal screening at diagnosis fosters early identification of psychosocial risks and provides the opportunity to match psychosocial care to the level of family need for more equitable, effective and integrated services. However, few programs offer such care in an efficient, comprehensive, and consistent manner, potentially resulting in insufficient care that magnifies inequities in outcomes. To support pediatric cancer centers in their goal of meeting the first Standard of Psychosocial Care, this study will compare two implementation strategies for the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT), a validated parent report screener of family psychosocial risk in English and Spanish, in a cluster randomized trial across 18 pediatric cancer programs in the United States.

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for pediatric cancer programs in the U.S. that have a psychosocial staff size at or above the median level. Eligible sites must serve a significant number of new pediatric cancer patients, including Spanish speakers and families with low socioeconomic status.

Inclusion Criteria

Sites that were at or above the median for size of their psychosocial staff were eligible.

Sites were selected in advance based on data collected in a previous study regarding psychosocial staffing in the pediatric cancer program.

Site selection took into consideration number of new pediatric cancer patients annually, geographical representation and sites with significant proportions of Spanish speaking families and/or families of low socioeconomic status.

Exclusion Criteria

Sites with psychosocial staffing below the median in the prior study were not eligible.

Participant Groups

The study compares two strategies to implement the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) across 18 pediatric cancer centers. One group will receive Training Webinar Plus Implementation Enhanced Resources (TIER), while another just gets a training webinar.

2Treatment groups

Active Control

Group I: Strategy I.TrainingActive Control1 Intervention

Sites randomized to Strategy I will receive a three hour training webinar in preparing for implementation of the PAT in their center.

Group II: Strategy II.Training+Implementation Enhanced Resources (TIER)Active Control2 Interventions

Sites randomized to Strategy II will identify a Champion for screening and will participate in a monthly consultation call in addition to completing the three hour training webinar for implementing the PAT in their center.