An observational study in Communication, sponsored by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-28.
Sponsored by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · Observational
Investigators want to find better ways for doctors and families to talk about cancer and how uncertainty may affect a child's life.
Primary Objective
Secondary Objective
This study aims to explore bereaved parents' and oncologists' reflections on communication about prognostic uncertainty during the child's cancer treatment. Parents who have lost a child to cancer and the doctors who treated them will be invited to join this study.
Participants who opt to participate in the study will engage in an audio recorded semi-structured interview with a researcher, virtually or in person (at their discretion) to share their perspectives and recommendations based on their experience. Throughout the interview, the interviewer has the option to ask additional questions (i.e., probe with questions not in the interview guide) to respond to comments made by the participant and honor the topics of interest to that given participant. The participant will be provided an opportunity to add any details or comments at the end of the interview if he/she would like to share additional information.
Following completion of the qualitative portion of the interview, the researcher will ask the participant several questions from a demographic form. The demographic form will include questions related to participant age, race/ethnicity, state/country of residence for bereaved parents, and years of clinical practice for oncologists.
719 studies on the registry are indexed under Communication; 159 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 50 is below the median of 104 across 132 observational studies indexed under Communication.
Browse Communication studies →St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is the lead sponsor of 440 studies on the registry; 102 are open to participants now.
Of its 61 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 37 (61%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Parents who have lost a child to cancer and the doctors who treated them.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Parent Participants must have a child who:
Oncologist participants at St. Jude must:
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Parents who have lost a child to cancer
St. Jude doctors who treated the child
Bereaved parents of children with cancer and oncologists reflections on communication about prognostic uncertainty during the child's cancer treatment
The analysis plan for this study is to apply reflexive thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke, involving the following six step process: 1. Familiarization with the data, 2. Generating initial codes, 3. Generating initial themes, 4. Reviewing themes, 5. Refining, defining, and naming themes, 6. Writing up a narrative of results. Investigators will conduct individual interviews with participants and code transcripts independently to identify salient themes from each cohort, subsequently compare codes across cohorts to explore and characterize areas of convergence and divergence and use a matrix approach to facilitate this comparative analysis. Interviews will be recorded, transcribed, and de-identified prior to analysis. MAXQDA, a sophisticated qualitative analysis software system, will be used to conduct and synthesize analysis.
Time frame: Approximately 1-3 weeks after enrollment.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
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