• Julien Tiete, Nicole Delvaux, Aurore Liénard, and Darius Razavi.
• Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l'Education, 50 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, Brussels, Belgium; Hôpital Erasme, Service de Psychologie, 808 Route de Lennik, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: julien.tiete@erasme.ulb.ac.be.
• Patient Educ Couns. 2021 Mar 1; 104 (3): 563-570.

ObjectiveCancer-related communication is critical for patients' and caregivers' adaptation to illness. This randomized pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a specific dyadic intervention to improve communication.MethodsA four weekly-session intervention was developed to reinforce cancer-related patient-caregiver communication. Patients receiving treatment for any diagnosed cancer, and their caregivers, were recruited from two oncology clinics in Belgium. Sixty-four patient-caregiver dyads were assigned randomly to intervention and waitlist groups. Cancer-related dyadic communication, dyadic coping and emotional distress were assessed at baseline and post-intervention.ResultsThe intervention attrition rate was 6 %. Linear mixed models were performed on 60 dyads. Significant two-way group × time interaction indicated improvement in participants' cancer-related dyadic communication frequency (β = -1.30; SE = 0.31; p =  .004), self-efficacy (β = -10.03; SE = 3.90; p =  .011) and dyadic coping (β = -5.93; SE = 2.73; p =  .046) after the intervention.ConclusionThese results indicate that the brief dyadic communication intervention is feasible and acceptable, and show preliminary evidence of efficacy.Practice ImplicationsEncouraging patients and caregivers to discuss personal cancer-related concerns may improve their ability to cope with the illness together.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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