{"doi":"10.1002/pon.5597","title":"A pilot study of mobilized intervention to help caregivers of oncology patients manage distress","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: Caregivers of patients with advanced cancer experience significant anxiety, depression, and distress. Caregivers have barriers to accessing in-person treatment to manage stress. Technology allows for the dissemination of evidence-based interventions in a convenient way. This study examined usage rates of Pep-Pal (an evidence-based mobilized intervention to help caregivers of patients with advanced cancer manage distress) and estimates of efficacy on anxiety, depression, stress, and sexual dysfunction. METHODS: Fifty-six primary caregivers of patients with advanced cancer were recruited through oncology clinics and randomized to either Pep-Pal (a mobilized psychoeducation and skills-based intervention for caregivers, n = 26) or treatment as usual (TAU; n = 30). All were screened for moderate anxiety on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety screening assessment (A ≥ 8) at baseline. RESULTS: Participants randomized to Pep-Pal experienced greater reductions in perceived stress (PSS; F = 3.91, p = .05), greater increases in ability to learn and use stress management skills (F = 6.16, p = 0.01), and greater increases in sexual function (women only; F = 5.07, p = 0.03) compared to participants in TAU. Of Pep-Pal participants, only 10 (38.5%) watched at least 7/9 full-length sessions. The a priori hypothesis and criterion that participants would watch at least 75% full-length sessions were not met. CONCLUSIONS: A brief, easily disseminated mobile intervention showed poor adherence, but had limited estimates of efficacy for secondary outcomes; perceived stress, learning stress management skills, and sexual functioning (women only). Future directions are discussed.","journal":"Psycho-Oncology","year":2020,"id":72706,"datarank":0.7913244684275607,"base_score":2.772588722239781,"endowment":2.772588722239781,"self_citation_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citation_network_contribution":0.3754361600915934,"self_endowment_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citer_contribution":0.3754361600915934,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":15,"citer_count":15,"citers_with_citation_signal":9,"citers_with_endowment":9,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9561,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT03002896"]},"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":383196,"name":"Alaina L. Carr","orcid":"0000-0002-9226-8439","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":351171,"name":"J. K. N. Jones","orcid":"0000-0003-1655-3876","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":384303,"name":"Susan K. Mikulich‐Gilbertson","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":381425,"name":"Jean S. Kutner","orcid":"0000-0002-8079-831X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383197,"name":"Kristin Kilbourn","orcid":"0000-0001-7218-1988","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":278416,"name":"Timothy S. Sannes","orcid":"0000-0003-4479-0350","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":384304,"name":"Benjamin B. Brewer","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383198,"name":"Elissa Kolva","orcid":"0000-0003-0538-7585","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383199,"name":"Tanisha Joshi","orcid":"0000-0001-9631-532X","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383200,"name":"Mark L. Laudenslager","orcid":"0000-0002-9815-3026","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383195,"name":"Nicole Pensak","orcid":"0000-0003-2945-5255","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":35,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:45:09.279825Z","pmid":"33217070","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}