Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Training for Cancer Care Providers October 2023

Thursday, October 12, 2023, 9:00 AM - Friday, October 13, 2023, 5:00 PM, Online


The overall objective of this project entitled “Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Training for Cancer Care Providers,” funded by NCI’s Cancer Research Education Grants Program (R25 Grant # 2R25CA190169) , is to continue to provide a multi-modal training program in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) for multidisciplinary cancer care clinicians who provide psycho-oncology, psycho-social, and palliative care services for cancer patients. Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) was designed by investigators at MSKCC to help advanced cancer patients understand the importance and relevance of sustaining, re-connecting with, creating and experiencing meaning in their lives through common and reliable sources of meaning that may serve as resources to help diminish despair, demoralization, and hopelessness near the end of life. Our research group adapted Viktor Frankl’s concepts regarding the importance of meaning in human existence and initially created a meaning-centered intervention in a group format (MCGP), and then in the individual format (IMCP). Both formats of MCP have been found to be effective in Randomized Controlled Trials and are considered to be established empirically validated treatment for patients with advanced cancer. MCP has also been adapted for use with other cancer and cancer-related populations. The Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Training program (MCPT) will train approximately 336 selected clinicians from diverse cancer and palliative care clinical settings in the delivery of MCP. Over the course of the 5 year training program, 336 MCPT participants will be trained during approximately 14 sessions (18-24 participants per training session), using existing resources, including faculty of the MSK Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Psychotherapy Laboratory (the developers of MCP) and the facilities of MSK’s Communication Skills (Comskil) Training Program. The MCPT will use a multi-component curriculum of didactics based on published MCP training manuals, group experiential learning, and interactive training using trained actors as simulated patients. Following the two-day intensive training session, participants will also participate in monthly training calls and a web-based MCP training community site will provide MCP clinical guidance, case examples, postings of relevant readings, and webinars that describe strategies for managing challenging MCP cases. The acquisition of clinical MCP skills by MCPT participants will be evaluated using RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) methodology. The long-term goal of this project is to expand the availability of MCP in significantly more cancer and palliative care treatment settings by training a large cadre of clinicians. This MCPT program will increase clinicians’ ability to treat advanced cancer patients and enhance patients’ quality of life. It is designed for psycho-social cancer care providers at MSK and other institutions, as well as in the community.

1. The attendees will become familiar with the importance of meaning, as a component of spiritual well-being, and its relationship to depression, hopelessness and desire for death in cancer patients.
2. The attendees will become familiar with a structured, didactic and experiential 7 - 8 session intervention for cancer patients aimed at sustaining or enhancing a sense of meaning in the face of illness.
3. The attendees will become more competent at providing MCP to cancer patients as well as individuals affected by cancer such as caregivers by learning and practicing MCP principles, techniques, and skills.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

Memorial Sloan Kettering designates this other activity (pre-course training modules and live activity) for a maximum of 15.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies (commercial interests). All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.