An interventional study of Taste Alteration Self-Assessment and Taste Alternation Self-Management in Chemotherapy Side Effects and Taste, Altered, sponsored by Wake Forest University Health Sciences. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-24.
Sponsored by Wake Forest University Health Sciences · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will:
Complete baseline assessment before starting their initial chemotherapy infusion (all patients) Participate in baseline patient education based on assigned intervention (usual care vs. treatment) Engage in TA management between chemotherapy infusion clinic visits based on education Visit the clinic for chemotherapy infusions as scheduled; Complete TA assessments and reporting based on intervention; Work with nurse coaches to answer questions and help with the intervention.
Complete study data collection on the 4th chemotherapy cycle (but continue intervention) Complete final data collection at 6 months
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE: Chemotherapy-induced taste alteration (TA) is a common problem for cancer patients with reported prevalence ranging from 35% to 69%. TA systems are associated with decreased dietary intake, malnutrition, and decreased quality of life with no known treatment. Researchers have demonstrated that breast cancer patients were able to control TA with the use of patient self-monitoring and self-management strategies, but these strategies are relatively untested. Research is needed to confirm the effectiveness of this nurse-led intervention when delivered by clinicians with a heterogeneous patient population.
PURPOSE To increase our understanding of the patient experience with TA during chemotherapy and test if adding steps to assess and lessen taste alterations works better than usual care. The infusion clinics will be randomly assigned and trained to provide usual care or usual care with added strategies. Patients receive care method based on clinic assignment (control/treatment). The study does not involve the use of experimental drugs, devices, or procedure.
METHOD: This prospective cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) is designed to enroll consenting adult cancer patients (n=50/clinic x 8 clinics; N=400) who initiate chemotherapy to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led intervention to engage patients in assessing and self-managing taste alterations (TA) during the first (4) chemotherapy cycles with six months.
INTERVENTION: The nurse-led intervention involves using a single item TA assessment question and an intervention tracking process to evaluate change in outcomes for both groups. The intervention involves using a more extensive valid/reliable assessment tool (Chemotherapy-induced Taste Alterations Scale (CiTAS) teaching the patient to use the findings and the evidence-based Patient Education sheet to select assessment-driven interventions to manage TA symptoms.
OUTCOMES: TA severity (single item and scale); Interventions Used; Patient-reported Effect; Dietary Intake, and BMI.
This study will advance the science by designing and testing the effectiveness of a nurse-led intervention to support infusion clinic patients in TA self-monitoring and management for a heterogenous patient populations beyond breast cancer.
52 studies on the registry are indexed under Dysgeusia; 12 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 400 is above the median of 49 across 28 interventional studies indexed under Dysgeusia.
Browse Dysgeusia studies →Wake Forest University Health Sciences is the lead sponsor of 1,351 studies on the registry; 201 are open to participants now.
Of its 332 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 251 (76%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Chemotherapy infusion clinics deliver infusion services based on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards (2020) including standard toxicity screening and providing standard chemotherapy patient education with general information for managing nausea and other gastrointestinal side effects and nutrition tips. Usual care patients will be supplemented with a single-item question to evaluate taste alteration severity and to gather information about what they are doing and their diet intake.
The nurse-led intervention involves using a valid/reliable TA assessment tool (Chemotherapy-induced Taste Alterations Scale (CiTAS) and teaching the patient to use the assessments and the evidence-based Patient Education Sheet to select assessment-driven interventions to manage TA symptoms. Data is collected about the specific actions prescribed in the teaching tool to identify which interventions were used and their overall impact.
Behavioral: Taste Alteration Self-Assessment · Behavioral: Taste Alternation Self-Management
The nurse-led intervention involves using a valid/reliable TA assessment tool (Chemotherapy-induced Taste Alterations Scale (CiTAS) and teaching the patient to select assessment-driven interventions to manage TA symptoms.
The nurse-led intervention involves teaching the patient to use the assessments and the evidence-based Patient Education Sheet to select assessment-driven interventions to manage their symptoms. Data will be collected about the specific actions prescribed in the teaching tool and to identify which interventions were used and their overall impact.
Taste Alteration Severity
A single item question with ordinal rating will be used to confirm taste alterations and evaluate severity of TA (control) The CiTAS tool (18 item ordinal rating tool) will be used to confirm taste alterations and evaluate severity of TA (treatment)
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 6 months.
Body mass index (BMI)
BMI is measured to monitor for changes in weight relative to height; It is used to monitor for changes in weight that may indicate that patient is experiencing weight loss during chemotherapy treatment.
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 6 months.
Dietary intake
All patients will be asked to report number of meals/day, number of snacks/day, and number of supplements per day as an estimate of food intake during chemotherapy.
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 6 months.
Plan to share: No
Started Dec 2024 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2026, 23 months after the start.
Of 18 interventional studies with no phase under Dysgeusia, half reached primary completion within 11 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 16. This study's planned 23 months is above that.
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