Cancer Coaching and Remote Education for Self-Empowerment, CARES Trial
This clinical trial evaluates a 12-week program that offers digital health coaching for patients with pancreatic cancer and their caregivers. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer often engage in behavior change to participate successfully in palliative care, such as attending additional appointments, engaging in symptom assessments (e.g., completing patient-reported outcome measures), and making lifestyle changes (e.g., nutrition, exercise). At the same time, caregivers of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer must also engage in behavior change to adequately support the patient, such as preparing meals, and providing transportation, and taking care of themselves (e.g., stress management). Prior studies have demonstrated that caregiver well-being is intimately linked with patient well-being, particularly for pancreatic cancer patient-caregiver dyads (relationship between two people) where the prognosis is often poor. Health coaches use behavior change theory, such as the stages of change model, to encourage individuals to engage in a particular health behavior (e.g., cancer screening) and tailor advice based on that individual’s readiness to change. Health coaching interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in improving health behaviors across a wide range of conditions including cancer. This study may help researchers learn how digital health coaching may improve nutrition support and palliative care for patients with pancreatic cancer and their caregivers.