PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To evaluate the effect of a brief educational program on colorectal cancer knowledge acquisition in a 3-arm randomized clinical trial (Control Group: standard of care; Treatment Group 1: cancer education; Treatment Group 2: mindfulness + cancer education) comparing visual/written educational material with and without mindfulness training to the standard of care.
II. To determine the priming effect of a brief mindfulness training on retaining knowledge of colorectal cancer education.
III. To determine the joint effect of colorectal cancer education delivered to both the patient and a caregiver on the overall colorectal cancer knowledge.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To examine the relative changes in psychobiological variables (stress, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, fatigue, life benefit) from pre (T0) to post (T1) intervention in the 3 arms of the clinical trials.
II. To measure changes in salivary cortisol levels as an indicator of acute stress reactivity across 4 time points across a one-hour period (i.e., 0 min, 20 min, 40 min, 60 min) during active chemotherapy (T1).
III. To determine the moderating effect of baseline peripheral levels of inflammation (interleukin-1 \[IL-1\], IL-6, c-reactive protein \[CRP\] and tumor necrosis factor alpha \[TNFa\]) on the trajectory of salivary cortisol reactivity.
OUTLINE: Patients and caregivers are randomized to 1 of 3 groups.
GROUP I: Patients and caregivers receive standard of care.
GROUP II: Patients and caregivers receive a 20-minute self-playing interactive educational video brochure.
GROUP III: Patients and caregivers receive a 20-minute self-playing interactive educational video brochure and watch a 20-minute interactive mindfulness exercise video.
