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.

Building upon prior work developing and pilot testing a provider-focused Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training intervention, this study sought feedback from key invested partners who work with individuals with lung cancer (i.e. stakeholders including scientific and clinical advisors and patient advocates) on the ECS training intervention. The findings will be used to launch a national virtually-delivered multi-center clinical trial that will examine the effectiveness and implementation of the evidence-based ECS training intervention to reduce patients' experience of lung cancer stigma. A 1-day, hybrid, key invested partners meeting was held in New York City in Fall 2021. We presented the ECS training intervention to all conference attendees (N = 25) to seek constructive feedback on modifications of the training content and platform for intervention delivery to maximize its impact. After participating in the immersive training, all participants engaged in a group discussion guided by semi-structured probes. A deductive thematic content analysis was conducted to code focus group responses into 12 distinct a priori content modification recommendations. Content refinement was suggested in 8 of the 12 content modification themes: tailoring/tweaking/refining, adding elements, removing elements, shortening/condensing content, lengthening/extending content, substituting elements, re-ordering elements, and repeating elements. Engagement and feedback from key invested multi-sector partner is a valuable resource for intervention content modifications. Using a structured format for refining evidence-based interventions can facilitate efforts to understand the nature of modifications required for scaling up interventions and the impact of these modifications on outcomes of interest. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05456841.

This study was done to get feedback from people who are involved with patients with lung cancer (PwLCs) including scientists, clinicians, and patient advocates on training in Empathic Communication Skills (ECS). The training is intended to reduce PwLCs experience of lung cancer stigma. The feedback is being used to help prepare for launching the training program in multiple cancer centers across the USA to test how well the training will work to reduce the stigma felt by PwLCs. A one-day, hybrid (in-person and virtual attendees) meeting was held in New York City in October 2021. We presented the original version of the ECS training program to all conference attendees (N = 25) to get feedback on modifications to improve the training program for the larger study planned at many cancer centers. After the training, all meeting attendees participated in a semi-structured group discussion. The content of the discussion was analyzed and sorted into 12 distinct categories that were defined before the meeting. Changes to the content were suggested in 8 of the 12 categories. These changes included tailoring/tweaking/refining, adding elements, removing elements, shortening/condensing content, lengthening/extending content, substituting elements, re-ordering elements, and repeating elements. Engaging and getting feedback from people involved in a topic is a good way to improve content and delivery of training materials.

Interventions to increase racial and ethnic minority accrual into cancer clinical trials: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minorities (REMs) continue to be underrepresented in clinical trials despite the 1993 National Institutes of Health's Revitalization Act mandating the representation of women and underrepresented minority groups in clinical trials. Although Blacks represent 15% and Hispanics 13% of the cancer population, their clinical trial enrollment rates are disproportionately low at 4% to 6% and 3% to 6%, respectively. A systematic review exploring interventions aimed at improving cancer clinical trial (CCT) enrollment for REMs was conducted. METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Ovid PsycINFO was conducted for English-language studies since 1993. Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed, US-based studies with interventions aimed to recruit underrepresented minority adult patients into cancer clinical trials. REM groups were defined as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. RESULTS: The systematic search identified 3123 studies, of which nine met inclusion criteria. Interventions included patient navigation/coaching (n = 4), a clinical trial educational video (n = 2), institutional research infrastructure changes (n = 1), a relationship building and social marketing recruitment model (n = 1), and cultural competency training for providers (n = 1). A statistically significant improvement in accrual was shown in three of the patient navigation interventions, one of the clinical trial educational videos and an institutional research infrastructure change. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review illustrates several potential mechanisms by which to increase CCT recruitment for patients of REM backgrounds in various clinical settings. More randomized controlled trials are needed to further explore the benefits of these interventions for REMs.