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RecruitingNCT06910969HORIZONSUpdated Sep 24, 2026

Multidisciplinary Intervention for Adults With Chronic Graft-versus-host Disease

An interventional study of HORIZONS Intervention and Minimally enhanced usual care in Bone Marrow Transplant Complications and Graft-versus-Host Disease, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-24.

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
350
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of a multidisciplinary group-based telehealth intervention (HORIZONS) compared to minimally enhanced usual care for improving self-management and quality of life for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) survivors living with chronic graft-versus host disease, and to identify critical facilitators and barriers for HORIZONS implementation and adoption.

Read the detailed description

This is a randomized clinical trial to determine whether a multidisciplinary group-based telehealth intervention is effective at improving the quality of life and reducing psychosocial distress in patients living with chronic graft-versus-host disease. The HORIZONS intervention was developed with the goal of improving the experience and needs of patients living with chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Participants will be randomized into one of the two study groups: HORIZONS plus usual care or minimally enhanced usual care.

Participation in this study is expected to last up to 18 weeks after enrollment.

The investigators expect that about 350 adult allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with moderate to severe chronic graft versus host disease will take part in this research study.

02

Conditions studied

  • Bone Marrow Transplant Complications
  • Graft-versus-Host Disease

Keywords

  • neoplasms
  • hematologic diseases
  • neoplasms by site
  • hematologic neoplasms
  • graft-versus-host disease
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Adult patients (≥ 18 years) who have undergone allogeneic HCT
  • Have moderate to severe cGVHD based on patient-report
  • Have ability to participate in English or Spanish language group telehealth intervention.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with mild cGVHD based on their self-report.
  • Patients with a major untreated psychiatric or cognitive condition which the treating oncology clinicians believes interferes with the capacity to provide informed consent.
  • Patients with active relapsed disease requiring therapy.
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
350 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    HORIZONS intervention

    Participants randomized to HORIZONS plus usual care will complete the following: * Questionnaires at baseline, and weeks 10 and 18 * Receive the HORIZONS intervention from enrollment and for up to 8 weeks. HORIZONS is an 8-session multidisciplinary, patient-centered intervention that combines medical and psychosocial expertise to enhance self-management and quality of life. * Receive usual care as determined by their local clinicians

    Behavioral: HORIZONS Intervention

  • Active comparator
    Minimally enhanced usual care

    Participants randomized to usual care will complete the following * Questionnaires at baseline, and weeks 10 and 18 after enrollment * Receive a standardized booklet containing evidence-based information on chronic GVHD management and HCT survivorship recommendations as well as receive care as determined by their local oncologists

    Behavioral: Minimally enhanced usual care

Interventions

  • BehavioralHORIZONS Intervention

    Therapist-delivered multidisciplinary group-based telehealth intervention comprised of 8 sessions

  • BehavioralMinimally enhanced usual care

    Receiving a standardized booklet with evidence-based information on chronic GHVD management and HST survivorship recommendations

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Patient quality of life (QOL) as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-BMT (FACT-BMT) questionnaire

    Compare patient QOL as measured by the FACT-BMT between the two study groups. The FACT-BMT ranges from 0-164 with higher scores indicating better QOL

    Time frame: At 10 weeks post-enrollment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient depression symptoms as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-Depression)

    Compare depression symptoms as measured by the HADS-Depression between the study groups. The HADS-Depression ranges from 0-21 with higher scores indicating worse depression symptoms

    Time frame: At 10 weeks post enrollment

  2. Patient anxiety symptoms as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-Anxiety)

    Compare anxiety symptoms as measured by the HADS-Anxiety between the study groups. The HADS-Anxiety ranges from 0-21 with higher scores indicating worse anxiety symptoms.

    Time frame: At 10 weeks post enrollment

  3. Patient chronic graft-versus-host disease symptoms as measured with the Lee Symptom Scale

    Compare chronic graft versus host disease symptoms as measured by the Lee Symptom Scale. The Lee Symptom Scale ranges from 0 -100 with higher scores indicating worse symptomatology

    Time frame: At 10 weeks post enrollment

06

Study locations

2 of 2 sites recruiting
  • University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
    Miami, Florida 33136, United States
    • Lara Traeger, PhD · Contact · ltraeger@miami.edu · 305-243-5302
    • Lara Traeger, PhD · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
    • Areej El-Jawahri · Contact · ael-jawahri@mgb.org · 617-724-4000
    • Areej El-Jawahri, MD · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The Dana Farber / Harvard Cancer Center encourages and supports the responsible and ethical sharing of data from clinical trials. De-identified participant data from the final research dataset used in the published manuscript may only be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement. Requests may be directed to Areej El-Jawahri (ael-jawahri@mgb.org). The protocol and statistical analysis plan will be made available on Clinicaltrials.gov as required by federal regulation or as a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06910969
Lead sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Collaborators
University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Responsible party
El-Jawahri, Areej,M.D. (Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 4, 2025
Start date
Aug 13, 2025
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Feb 1, 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 24, 2026

Study contacts

Lara Traeger PhD
Contact
ltraeger@miami.edu
304-284-3012
Areej El-Jawahri MD
Contact
ael-jawahri@mgb.org
617-721-4000
Areej El-Jawahri MD
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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