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A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: To test the effects of emotionally expressive writing in a randomized controlled trial of metastatic breast cancer patients and to determine whether effects of the intervention varied as a function of perceived social support or time since metastatic diagnosis.Women (N = 62) living with Stage IV breast cancer were randomly assigned to write about cancer-related emotions (EMO; n = 31) or the facts of their diagnosis and treatment (CTL; n = 31). Participants wrote at home for four 20-min sessions within a 3-week interval.Depressive symptoms, cancer-related intrusive thoughts, somatic symptoms, and sleep quality at 3 months postintervention.No significant main effects of experimental condition were observed. A significant condition x social support interaction emerged on intrusive thoughts; EMO writing was associated with reduced intrusive thoughts for women reporting low emotional support (eta2 = .15). Significant condition x time since metastatic diagnosis interactions were also observed for somatic symptoms and sleep disturbances. Relative to CTL, EMO participants who were more recently diagnosed had fewer somatic symptoms (eta2 = .10), whereas EMO participants with longer diagnosis duration exhibited increases in sleep disturbances (eta2 = .09).Although there was no main effect of expressive writing on health among the current metastatic breast cancer sample, expressive writing may be beneficial for a subset of metastatic patients (including women with low levels of emotional support or who have been recently diagnosed) and contraindicated for others (i.e., those who have been living with the diagnosis for years).

SUBMITTER: Low CA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3128513 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Low Carissa A CA Stanton Annette L AL Bower Julienne E JE Gyllenhammer Lauren L

Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association 20100701 4

<h4>Objective</h4>To test the effects of emotionally expressive writing in a randomized controlled trial of metastatic breast cancer patients and to determine whether effects of the intervention varied as a function of perceived social support or time since metastatic diagnosis.<h4>Design</h4>Women (N = 62) living with Stage IV breast cancer were randomly assigned to write about cancer-related emotions (EMO; n = 31) or the facts of their diagnosis and treatment (CTL; n = 31). Participants wrote ...[more]

PMID: 20658835

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Project description:BackgroundWomen with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have average life expectancies of about 2 years, and report high levels of disease-related symptoms including pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, psychological distress, and functional impairment. There is growing recognition of the limitations of medical approaches to managing such symptoms. Yoga is a mind-body discipline that has demonstrated a positive impact on psychological and functional health in early stage breast cancer patients and survivors, but has not been rigorously studied in advanced cancer samples.MethodsThis randomized controlled trial examines the feasibility and initial efficacy of a Mindful Yoga program, compared with a social support condition that controls for attention, on measures of disease-related symptoms such as pain and fatigue. The study will be completed by December 2017. Sixty-five women with MBC age ≥ 18 are being identified and randomized with a 2:1 allocation to Mindful Yoga or a support group control intervention. The 120-min intervention sessions take place weekly for 8 weeks. The study is conducted at an urban tertiary care academic medical center located in Durham, North Carolina. The primary feasibility outcome is attendance at intervention sessions. Efficacy outcomes include pain, fatigue, sleep quality, psychological distress, mindfulness and functional capacity at post-intervention, 3-month follow-up, and 6-month follow-up.DiscussionIn this article, we present the challenges of designing a randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up among women with MBC. These challenges include ensuring adequate recruitment including of minorities, limiting and controlling for selection bias, tailoring of the yoga intervention to address special needs, and maximizing adherence and retention. This project will provide important information regarding yoga as an intervention for women with advanced cancer, including preliminary data on the psychological and functional effects of yoga for MBC patients. This investigation will also establish rigorous methods for future research into yoga as an intervention for this population.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifer: NCT01927081 , registered August 16, 2013.

Dataset Information

A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Publications

A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer.

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