An interventional study of IM@Home and Enhanced usual care in Head and Neck Cancer, Head and Neck Tumor and Thoracic Tumor, sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Active, not recruiting at 7 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-26.
Sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The overarching long-term goal of the Integrative Medicine for Patient-reported Outcomes Values and Experience (IMPROVE) research program is to evaluate whether integrating a virtual mind-body programming, Integrative Medicine at Home (IM@Home), will improve patient perceived values, outcomes, and experiences as they undergo systemic cancer treatment such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted agents, cytoreductive surgery.
2,344 studies on the registry are indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms; 551 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 324 is above the median of 47 across 1,751 interventional studies indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms.
Browse Head and Neck Neoplasms studies →Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is the lead sponsor of 1,930 studies on the registry; 328 are open to participants now.
Of its 129 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 66 (51%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Additional Inclusion Criteria for Head and Neck, Thoracic, Gynecologic, Melanoma and Breast Baskets
Additional Inclusion Criteria for First Remission Gynecologic Cancer Basket
Additional Inclusion Criteria for the Advanced Cancer Basket:
Additional Inclusion Criteria for the Cancer Survivor Basket:
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants with head and neck tumors, thoracic tumors, gynecological tumors, melanoma, breast cancer, or ovarian cancer
Behavioral: IM@Home
Participants with head and neck tumors, thoracic tumors, gynecological tumors, melanoma, breast cancer, or ovarian cancer
Behavioral: Enhanced usual care
Participants in the IM@Home group will receive a 12-week virtual, synchronous, mind-body and fitness program. The Classes will be conducted via Zoom video conferencing platform. Patients will choose from a variety of weekly classes, occurring one to four times per week. An Integrative Medicine Service (IMS) clinical therapist (e.g., licensed dance therapist, certified yoga instructor, nurse specialist/physical trainer) with specific expertise in the oncology setting will lead each session. Activities range from more movement-based (fitness, yoga, dance therapy, or tai chi) to meditative-based classes (meditation, guided meditation, or music therapy). All clinicians will provide an overview of the session, 25 to 40 minutes of content, and five minutes for feedback and discussion. Each class lasts 30 to 45 minutes with optional audio or video participant participation and group chat.
Patients in the enhanced usual care will receive usual care. In addition, once enrolling into the trial, they will be given a handout to encourage them to visit the MSK's multimedia page on the Integrative Medicine website to access pre-recorded, on-demand meditation audio or video recordings for meditation, guided imagery, and relaxation.
Average Fatigue Severity from the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI)
Primary outcome will be measured by the average fatigue severity measured by the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). The BFI is a 9-item instrument designed to assess one construct of fatigue severity in cancer and non-cancer populations. Three items ask patients to rate the severity of their fatigue at its "worst," "usual," and "now" during normal waking hours, with 0 being "no fatigue" and 10 being "fatigue as bad as you can imagine." Six items assess the amount that fatigue has interfered with different aspects of the patient's life during the past 24 hours. The interference items are measured on a 0-10 scale, with 0 being "does not interfere" and 10 being "completely interferes."59 A composite fatigue severity score can be found by averaging the 9 item scores.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Symptom intensity as measured by Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS)
The ESAS is a brief self-report tool of symptom intensity, initially developed for patients with advanced cancer.61 It includes nine common symptoms of advanced cancer (pain, tiredness, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, well-being, shortness of breath), with the option of adding a tenth patient-specific symptom. It is designed to capture multidimensional symptom profiles over time by obtaining repeated quantitative measurements of symptom intensity with minimal patient burden. The original ESAS used visual analogue scales (VAS) to rate symptom intensity. A subsequent revised version replaced the VAS with 11-point numerical rating scales.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Insomnia severity as measured by Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)
The ISI has 7 items rated on a 5-point Likert response scale (e.g., 0 = no problem; 4 = very severe problem), yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 28 with higher scores representing more severe insomnia symptoms. The usual recall period is the "last month." The ISI authors suggest the following guidelines for interpreting the ISI total score: \< 8, no clinically significant insomnia; 8-14, subthreshold insomnia; 15-21, clinical insomnia (moderate severity); \> 21, clinical insomnia (severe). The ISI has demonstrated internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, specificity and sensitivity in a representative sample of 1670 cancer patients. The ISI has established minimally important change values to ensure that the change is not only statistically, but also clinically, meaningful to patients. A reduction of eight points has been deemed to be clinically significant improvement.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Effect of treatments on psychological distress as measured by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
HADS is a 14-item scale with 7 items measuring depression and 7 items measuring anxiety. Each item is answered by the patient on a four-point (0-3) response category, so possible scores range from 0-21 for anxiety and depression, with higher scores indicating higher symptomatology. Established cutoffs are: 0-7 not significant; 8-10 subclinical; and 11-21 clinically significant depression/anxiety. Factor analysis showed two distinct but correlated factors of anxiety and depression. The scale scores have been shown to be both reliable and valid.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Pain as measured by Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Scale v1.2 - Global Health
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Scale v1.2 - Global Health is a brief instrument composed of 10 items that demonstrates adequate reliability and validity as a measure of health-related QOL in general and clinical populations. Patients are asked to respond to questions 1-8 and 10 on a scale of 1-5. Question 9 is on a 0-10 scale (average pain rating). The measure yields two scores, Physical Health and Mental Health, that will be used as secondary outcomes to evaluate the effect of our interventions on QOL. These scores will be calculated using item-level calibrations based on item response theory (IRT) scaling and then transformed to T-Scores, which are standardized such that 50 represents the mean for the US general population, and the standard deviation around that mean is 10 points. Higher scores indicate better Physical and Mental Health.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Participants treatment outcome expectancy as measured by Mao Expectancy of Treatment Effects (METE)
Mao Expectancy of Treatment Effects (METE): is a four-item instrument originally developed as the Acupuncture Expectancy Scale (AES) by Mao (PI) et al. Outcome expectancy has long been considered an important predictor of treatment outcomes and has gained increasing recognition in clinical trials. It has demonstrated reliability (Cronbach's α of 0.82) and validity and is positively correlated with patient self-reported efficacy and satisfaction. The score ranges from 4 to 20, with higher scores indicating greater expectancy. We will use this measure to explore whether expectancy predicts treatment outcomes and may impact the observed differences between groups.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Satisfaction of intervention
Satisfaction will be measured through a five-point Likert scale assessing overall approval and recommendations for improvement. Trevino et al. (2020) demonstrated high engagement and satisfaction with IMS remotely delivered mind-body services, including fitness, meditation, yoga.77 Furthermore, qualitative interviews will be conducted using thematic content analysis to determine program satisfaction and triangulate quantitative data.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Recommendation of Intervention to Others
Willingness to recommend the intervention will be measured by a one-item assessment. Participants will be asked their willingness to recommend the intervention to a friend, family member, or fellow cancer patient/survivor.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Number of Treatment Disruptions
Record on treatment disruption will be extracted from MSK EMR via DataLine. This includes records on dose reduction, dose delay, and treatment discontinuation. Participants will also self-report and comment on treatment disruption in log. Dose reduction is defined as any dosage decrease or adjustment relative to dosage at the start of intended systemic regimen. Dose delay is defined as any delay or temporary stoppage in administration of systemic regimen relative to the intended schedule. Treatment discontinuation is defined as permanent discontinuation of the intended systemic regimen that does not include treatment completion during intervention. The treatment variables will be abstracted by the clinical research coordinators and adjudicated with guidance from the collaborating medical oncologists in the specific services.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Number of Unplanned medical visits
Record on unplanned medical visits to the urgent care, emergency room, and hospitalization will be patient-reported and extracted from MSK EMR via DataLine. For each unplanned medical visit, CPT code, ICD-10 code, chief complaints, and the length of stay will be collected. Unplanned medical visit data will also be tracked at partner hospitals in collaboration with ambulatory care. Participants will also self-report and comment on unplanned medical visits in log.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Participant Attendance to IM@Home Sessions
Participants will self-report attendance in a weekly log of the number and type of classes attended. Once randomized, participants will be instructed to record their attendance in the mind-body classes throughout the week. A log will be sent out through the MSK Engage, where participants can fill out their attendance at the end of each week.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Plan to share: Yes — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center