Mindfulness Meditation Intervention for Colorectal Cancer Patients and Caregivers

Inclusion Criteria: Eligible patients must:

• Carry a diagnosis of metastatic colon, rectum, or small bowel adenocarcinoma

• Anticipate receiving chemotherapy for at least 12 weeks total from the time ofrecruitment

• Have life expectancy of at least 6 months

• Have Karnofsky Performance Status ≥60

• Be able to speak and read English

• Have access to a mobile phone

• Be able to navigate websites, fill out forms on the web, communicate by email, andhave regular access to the internet

• Have a distress level of ≥3 on the NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT).[1, 40]

• An effort will always be made to recruit patient and caregiver pairs, but unpairedpatients are also eligible Eligible caregivers are a spouse/partner, other family member, or a close friend of apatient with metastatic colon, rectum, or small bowel adenocarcinoma. Eligible caregivers must:

• Be able to speak and read English

• Have access to a mobile phone

• Be able to navigate websites, fill out forms on the web, communicate by email, andhave regular access to the internet

Exclusion Criteria: This study is limited the study to patients with metastatic colon, rectum, or small boweladenocarcinoma, because treatment regimens and disease trajectories for these diseasegroups are similar. Deafness, Current meditation practice (>2 episodes or >1 hour total, weekly), and currentenrollment in a stress reduction program are exclusion criteria for the intervention studybecause the study is designed as an audio-based introduction to mindfulness meditation. Patients with a DT level >7 will be considered on a case-by- case basis. Patients andcaregivers who participate in a focus group and meet criteria for the intervention will begiven the opportunity to participate: data will be collected, but thesepatients/participants will not be included in the final analyses so as not to bias theresults.