Connecting lung cancer caregivers to supportive services and navigation
Official title: Multi-site Community Oncology Planning for the CONNECT Intervention Targeting Lung Cancer Caregivers
Funded at Wake Forest University Health Sciences · NIH-11099917 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project builds a practical system to identify what lung cancer caregivers need and link them to local support services and navigators.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Wake Forest University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Winston-Salem, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $283,650 |
| NIH project number | 5U34CA283478-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11099917 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Unpaid family or informal caregivers of people receiving lung cancer treatment at participating community oncology clinics are the ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Caregivers of patients without lung cancer, paid professional caregivers, or people treated outside the participating clinic network may not be eligible or directly benefit.
What this research studies
If you are caring for someone with lung cancer, this project is planning a step-by-step program to check what help you need and then connect you to local support like counseling, wellness classes, and medical task training. The team will refine and expand the CONNECT screening tool across several community oncology sites and add navigator support to overcome barriers to using services. They will collect information from caregivers and clinics to prepare for a larger multi-site trial. The goal is to create a scalable process community clinics can use to reach caregivers earlier and more reliably.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Caregivers could gain easier, faster access to evidence-based psychosocial support and training that may reduce caregiver burden and depressive symptoms.
How similar studies have gone: A prior pilot randomized trial with 40 lung cancer caregivers showed feasibility, reduced caregiver burden, and a clinically meaningful drop in depression, but larger multi-site testing is still needed.
Where this research is happening
-
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Winston-Salem, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Nightingale, Chandylen Lenae — Wake Forest University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Nightingale, Chandylen Lenae
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.