Support TECH Study
The Population-based Palliative Care Research Network (PoPCRN) is collaborating with Kristin Kilbourn, PhD, AMC Cancer Research Center, on a pilot study recently funded by the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grants/University of Colorado Cancer Center Seed Grant program. The overall goal of this project is to conduct a feasibility study of a new and innovative counseling intervention to improve psychosocial functioning and quality of life among caregivers of cancer patients enrolled in home-based hospice care. The project will utilize counselor-initiated telephone calls addressing standardized topics targeted to caregivers at strategic points during the course of hospice care. Caregivers of home-based hospice patients experience multiple stressors, including managing the physical and emotional needs of their loved one, dealing with uncertainty about the disease process, and communicating with health care workers and family members. Caregivers often face an interruption of life tasks and goals, financial difficulties, work-related disruptions and negative social consequences. "Support TECH" aims to address these issues.
"Support TECH" will provide essential process evaluation data for a future randomized trial. For the first phase of the study, we will interview hospice staff and volunteers as well as caregivers of patients who received hospice care about the caregiving experience. This formative stage will allow us the opportunity to refine and improve the caregiver support protocol prior to the intervention phase. Six hospices have agreed to participate in this initial phase (see below).
For more information on the SupportTECH study, (the Caregiver Life Line project), please click here
If your hospice organization is potentially interested in participating in any aspect of this study, please contact Jenny Vancura
Participating Hospices:
Capital Hospice, Falls Church, VA
Hospice of Montezuma, Cortez, CO
Hospice of Michigan, Detroit, MI
Hospice of Saint John, Lakewood, CO
Hospice of the Roaring Fork, Aspen, CO
Rice Hospice, Willmar, MN
San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care, San Diego, CA