Recruiting

ECS Training

Sponsor:

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Code:

NCT05456841

Conditions

Lung Cancer

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training

Standard of Care participant interaction

Study Details

Brief summary:

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

Lung Cancer

Study ID

NCT05456841

Start date

Apr 28, 2023

Status verified date

Jul, 2026

Completion date

Aug 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

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

Study Design

Enrollment

1232 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Other

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Oncology Care Providers/OCP-intervention group

Providers participate in Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training

active comparator: Oncology Care Providers/OCP-control group

Providers complete all study measures and are offered ECS training after data collection is completed at their site.

experimental: Participants with Lung Cancer-intervention group

Participants will engage with oncology care providers/OCP who have undergone Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training

active comparator: Participants with Lung Cancer-control group

Waitlist control group - WLC

Interventions

Empathic Communication Skills (ECS) training

The overall training goal of this 2.25 hour module ECS module is to enhance OCP recognition and responsiveness to lung cancer patients' empathic opportunities by communicating understanding, alleviating stigma and distress, and providing support. The ECS training also provides tools to OCPs to buffer/inoculate patients against stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors by others such that lung cancer patients who currently or formerly smoked can be given "small doses" of an opposing viewpoint (termed as "preparing patients for recurring smoking questions") and suggestions of "counterarguments" in order to make them resistant to future stigmatizing attacks by others

Standard of Care participant interaction

Standard of Care participant interaction

Primary outcome measure

  • Uptake of communication skills using standardized patient assessment/SPAs [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
  • Uptake of empathy skills using standardized patient assessment/SPAs [ Time Frame: 3 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Smita Banerjee, PhD

646-888-0011banerjes@mskcc.org

Jamie Ostroff, PhD

646-888-0041ostroffj@mskcc.org

Locations

BAPTIST ALLIANCE - MCI (Data Collection Only)

Recruiting

Miami, Florida, United States, 33143

Contacts

Ian Bostock, MD

786-596-2000

Advocate Health Care Network

Recruiting

Libertyville, Illinois, United States, 60048

Contacts

Michael Breen, MD

847-367-6781

Hackensack Meridian Health (Data collection only)

Recruiting

Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, 07601

Contacts

David Greenberg, MD

551-996-8704

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Data Collection Only)

Recruiting

Buffalo, New York, United States, 14263-0001

Contacts

Elisabeth Dexter, MD

716-845-2300

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (All Protocol Activities)

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10065

Contacts

Smita Banerjee, PhD

646-888-0011

University of Pennsylvania (Data Collection Only)

Recruiting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104-4283

Contacts

Victoria Sherry, DNP, CRNP, ANP-BC, AOCNP

(215) 615-5858

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Data Collection Only)

Recruiting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19111

Contacts

Linda Fleisher, PhD, MPH

215-728-4066

Chesapeake Regional Healthcare (Data Collection Only)

Recruiting

Chesapeake, Virginia, United States, 23320

Contacts

Stephen Noble, MD

757-842-4499

More Information

Sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Last update posted

Jul 23, 2026

Last verified

Jul, 2026

Keywords

  • lung cancer
  • thoracic oncology physician
  • thoracic oncology nurse practitioner
  • thoracic oncology physicians assistant
  • 21-339
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on 2026-07-23.