Chaplain-Delivered Compassion Meditation to Improve Spiritual Care of Patients Receiving Stem Cell Transplantation

NCT06328699 — Not applicable, Active not recruiting, 50 participants, Emory University

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Randomized Pilot Study of Chaplain-Delivered Compassion Meditation for Patients Receiving Stem Cell Transplantation

Registry	NCT06328699
Status	Active not recruiting
Phase	Not applicable
Study type	Interventional; randomized, parallel, masking: none, supportive care
Enrollment	50 (Actual)
Sponsor	Emory University (Other); collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Conditions	Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma
Interventions	Spiritual Therapy, Best Practice (Procedure, other)
Dates	start 2023-10-30, primary completion 2024-11-13, completion 2026-11-15 (estimated), first posted 2024-03-25, last updated 2026-08-26
Locations	1 site in United States

-Summary

This clinical trial tests the feasibility, implementation and acceptability of chaplain delivered compassion meditation in order to improve spiritual care for patients receiving stem cell transplantation. Hospital chaplains play a vital role in delivering emotional and spiritual care to a broad range of both religious and non-religious patients for a wide variety of stressors, and extensive research indicates that spiritual consults impact patient outcomes and satisfaction. Compassion meditation is a secularized, research-based mindfulness and compassion meditation program designed to expand and strengthen compassion for self and others. Practices include training in attentional stability and increased emotional awareness, as well as targeted reflections to appreciate one's relationship with self and others. By centering the mind, controlling debilitating ruminative thoughts, and cultivating personal resiliency and an inclusive and more accurate understanding of others. Engaging in chaplain delivered compassion meditation may improve the spiritual care for patients receiving stem cell transplantation.

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+Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To examine the feasibility, adoption, extent of implementation, acceptability and fidelity of chaplain-delivered compassion-centered spiritual health (CCSH).

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

ARM I: Patients receive chaplain-led compassionate centered spiritual health sessions over 30 minutes, twice per week for up to 2 weeks.

ARM II: Patients receive a traditional chaplain consultation and care upon request, per standard of care.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 80-100 days and 6 months post treatment.

+Arms and interventions

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
Arm I (Chaplain delivered compassion meditation)	Experimental	Procedure: Spiritual Therapy	Patients receive chaplain led compassionate centered spiritual health sessions over 30 minutes, twice per week for up to 2 weeks.
Arm II (Traditional chaplain consultation)	Active comparator	Other: Best Practice	Patients receive a traditional chaplain consultation and care upon request, per standard of care.

Spiritual Therapy (Procedure): Undergo chaplain led compassionate centered spiritual health sessions
Best Practice (Other), also known as best practice, standard of care, standard of care, standard therapy: Receive a traditional chaplain consultation and will receive care upon request

+Outcome measures

Primary outcomes

Feasibility - patient enrollment and treatment-specific retention rates [Up to 8 months]: Will measure and characterize the proportion of eligible patient screens who enroll and treatment-specific retention rates.

Secondary outcomes

Patient Characteristics Affecting Acceptability - Chaplain Satisfaction Survey [Up to 8 months]: We will examine whether scores on the chaplain satisfaction survey vary based on patient sociodemographic variables (biological sex, race)
Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Marrow Transplant [FACT-BMT] [Up to 8 months]: Impact of chaplain-delivered compassion-centered spiritual health on quality of life
Acceptability - Chaplain Satisfaction Survey [Up to 8 months]: Will administer a post- chaplain-based compassion treatment (CBCT) intervention using chaplain satisfaction survey and will ask patients after each session if they would like to continue receiving CBCT sessions.

+Eligibility

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any, accepts healthy volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

* PATIENT: Within 6 weeks of scheduled hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT)
* PATIENT: > 18 years of age
* PATIENT: Speak and read English
* CHAPLAIN: Emory Healthcare chaplain

Exclusion Criteria:

* PATIENT: Patients will be excluded if they are cognitively impaired, on a ventilator, or are in a room requiring enteric precautions or airborne precautions (e.g., use of an N-95 mask requiring fit-testing) to enter
* CHAPLAIN: There will be no exclusion criteria and no consequence to the chaplains for refusing to volunteer

+Locations (1)

Facility	City	Country	Status
Emory University Hospital/Winship Cancer Institute	Atlanta, Georgia	United States

+Funding

NIH grants: K01AT010488, P30CA138292