A Feasibility Study of Chaplain-Delivered Compassion Meditation for Patients Receiving Stem Cell Transplantation

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Project Summary: The purpose of the current proposal is to enable the PI to transition to an independent research investigator, with expertise in the implementation and evaluation of meditation in integrative oncology. The proposed training plan includes structured mentoring, hands-on training, and didactic coursework in integrative oncology research methods, pre-implementation and implementation science methods and theory, as well as a rigorous proposed research study. The proposed research leverages a well-accepted clinical service of highly trained and embedded clinicians – hospital chaplains – to deliver an adapted, evidence-based compassion meditation program, CBCT (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), for blood cancer patients hospitalized for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Due to chemotherapy-induced toxicity and early post-transplant complications, patients receiving HSCT experience a multitude of acute physical symptoms that negatively impact their quality of life and psychosocial well-being. Identifying and effectively implementing evidence-based interventions to improve well-being for cancer survivors in an imperative to advancing cancer care. The central tenet of this proposal is that chaplain-delivery of CBCT at the hospital bedside will reduce several significant barriers to accessing meditation, including for racial and ethnic groups and for low-income patients who typically encounter barriers to access, as well as for patients during initial diagnosis and treatment who are least likely to engage in integrative interventions. The research objective is to establish the feasibility and acceptability of CBCT delivered by hospital chaplains at the bedside during HSCT, and to evaluate changes in depression and quality of life in patients receiving CBCT. The concomitant career training will allow the PI to develop the expertise to identify novel points of entry for integrative approaches to improve well-being and quality of life during and after cancer treatment, to adapt and optimize interventions for embedded delivery, and to evaluate clinically relevant outcomes. When paired with her expertise in mind-body science and the biological bases of social connection, as well as continued hands-on training in psychoneuroimmunology and contemplative science, the PI will pursue a long-term research program to evaluate integrative approaches to well-being in the hospital. Therefore, this award would allow the PI to accomplish her goal of becoming an independent, academic research investigator, while advancing the research objective of identifying, optimizing, and evaluating a novel hospital-based approach to reduce depression and improve quality of life during cancer treatment.