Anxiety With Cancer in the Elderly (ACE): A Cognitive-behavioral Intervention

The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of and patient adherence to a telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for anxiety in older adults (65 years and older) with cancer and their primary informal caregiver. This study will also examine whether the intervention has a clinically significant impact on patient anxiety (primary outcome) and depression, distress, and quality of life (secondary outcomes).

This study is a single arm pre-post evaluation of a six-session telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for anxiety in older adults with cancer and their primary informal (unpaid) caregiver. The primary purposes of this study are to evaluate the feasibility of the intervention and study procedures, acceptability of the intervention to older adults with cancer and their primary informal caregiver, and patient and caregiver adherence to the intervention. The secondary purpose is to examine changes in patient and caregiver anxiety, depression, distress, and quality of life pre to post intervention to determine whether the intervention has a clinically significant impact on these outcomes. Anxiety is the primary outcome; depression, distress, and quality of life are secondary outcomes. Patients will be 65 years of age or older and will be recruited from the myeloma, lung, lymphoma, gynecologic, and gastrointestinal cancer clinics at a single institution. Study measures will be administered by telephone prior to initiating the intervention (pre-intervention) and following intervention completion (post-intervention).