Dyadic Psychosocial Interventions for People with Advanced Cancer & their Informal Caregivers
Dyadic Psychosocial Interventions for People with Advanced Cancer and their Informal Caregivers (DIAdIC) is an international research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Living with advanced cancer can be challenging, not only for the person who has received the diagnosis, but also for their family and caregivers.
The DIAdIC project aims to develop and evaluate two educational psychosocial interventions to support people living with cancer and their main family caregivers. Each patient and caregiver will complete the intervention together, as a dyad. The intervention will consist of a number of sessions, tailored to meet the needs of the dyad. These will be available as either a self-administered online intervention, or in a face-to-face format, delivered by a trained nurse.
The project will be conducted in six countries across Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Each of the partner countries will trial the face to face and online interventions, exploring their effectiveness in improving the quality of life for patients and caregivers.
Watch: DIAdic project video
Aims
The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two educational psychosocial interventions (face-to-face and online) for people with advanced cancer and their caregivers.
Trials Design
International multicentre parallel group design RCT using 3 arms:
- Those who will receive the face-to-face intervention (Focus+).
- Those who will receive the online intervention (iFocus).
- Those who will receive care as usual, with no additional intervention (the control group).
The two interventions will be tailored to the needs of each dyad and will consist of five key components:
- Supporting family involvement in care.
- Support identifying the positive aspects of the situation.
- Increasing coping effectiveness to deal with stress related to the disease and caregiving.
- Reducing uncertainty about the disease and treatments.
- Teaching self-care strategies for symptom management.
Principal Investigators
Herbert Dunhill Senior Lecturer
Vice Dean (International) and Director and Global Lead, Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation
Affiliations
Funding
Funding Body: European Commission
Amount: £287,205.00
Period: January 2019 - December 2023