Dignity Therapy in mCRC to Increase Peaceful Awareness & Impact Goals of Care Decision-Making

• Impact of Dignity Therapy [ Time Frame: at baseline, 1-2 weeks after completion of dignity therapy sessions, 1 month after completion of sessions ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Measure the impact of dignity therapy on terminal illness acknowledgment and presence of peaceful awareness. Subjects will complete self-evaluation questionnaires at the point of registration and upon completing dignity therapy sessions. The impact will be determined by changes in the patient's baseline self-reported parameters.
  
  

• Measure the impact of dignity therapy on life sustaining therapy and end-of-life goals of care. [ Time Frame: at baseline, 1-2 weeks after completion of dignity therapy sessions, 1 month after completion of dignity therapy sessions ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Subjects will complete self-evaluation questionnaires at the point of registration and upon completing dignity therapy sessions. The impact will be determined by changes in the patient's baseline self-reported parameters.
  
  
• Establish a correlation between terminal illness acknowledgement and presence of peaceful awareness with preferences for life sustaining therapy and end-of-life goals of care. [ Time Frame: At Study Completion ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Establish a correlation between terminal illness acknowledgement and presence of peaceful awareness with preferences for life sustaining therapy and end-of-life goals of care.
  
  

Dignity Therapy is a well tolerated structured interview that helps patients reflect on who they are, what is most important to them and what lessons they have learned through life. For patients not receiving chemotherapy, Dignity Therapy gave patients more hope, more meaning in their life, and helped their families. Researchers at Northwestern University would like to see if it has the same effect in patients getting chemotherapy. We will also see if the Dignity Therapy changes patient's understanding of their disease and their medical preferences.

All study procedures will take place when participants come for a scheduled doctor's visit or to receive chemotherapy. At the first visit participants will answer a questionnaire taking approximately 15-30 minutes. Participants will then have a Dignity Therapy Session approximately 1-2 weeks later. A second Dignity Therapy Session will be scheduled again in another 1-2 weeks. Each study Dignity Therapy Session will take approximately an hour. One to two weeks later a repeat questionnaire will be filled out. Finally, a third and final questionnaire will be complete 4 weeks later.