Early Integration of Palliative Care Using the BEACON PROQOL in Patients With High Grade Glioma and Their Caregivers

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Assess feasibility of intra-office Beacon Patient Related Outcomes Quality of Life Scale (PROQOL) assessment of patient and caregiver. II. Assess feasibility of routine (monthly) visits with palliative care specialists. III. Evaluate if overall quality of life of patients with high grade glioma and their caregivers improves with identifying and addressing symptoms and psychosocial concerns identified through the PROQOL tool. IV. Evaluate if overall quality of life of patients with high grade glioma improves further with early integration of palliative care. V. Evaluate if overall quality of life of primary caregivers improves with early integration of palliative care. VI. Compare patient's perception and understanding of disease severity and prognosis with that of the caregivers, and with that of the clinicians. VII. Evaluate variance in prognosis between the neurooncologist and palliative care specialist. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 3 groups. GROUP A: Patients and primary caregiver complete the Beacon PROQOL survey before each visit. Patients then receive standard of care for high grade glioma consisting of visits with neuro-oncologist monthly for 6 months to address concerns that are identified via the survey and the domain of concern identified by patient and caregiver. GROUP B: Patients and primary caregiver complete the Beacon PROQOL survey before each visit. Patients then receive standard of care for high grade glioma consisting of visits with neuro-oncologist and palliative care team monthly for 6 months to address concerns that are identified by the survey and domains of concerns. Caregivers also attend support sessions led by a social worker monthly for 6 months. GROUP C: Patients and primary caregiver complete quality of life portion of the Beacon PROQOL survey before each visit. Patients then receive standard of care for high grade glioma consisting of visits with neuro-oncologist monthly for 6 months and address important concerns that come up on the survey. Patients may also receive palliative care consultation as deemed appropriate by the neuro-oncologist.