Expressive Writing and Adjustment to Metastatic Breast Cancer

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Metastatic Breast Cancer

Treatments

Behavioral: Writing Intervention

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

NIH

Identifiers

NCT00624156

08-011

Details and patient eligibility

About

We are doing this study to see if writing about life experiences helps women adjust to breast cancer that has spread. We will compare two groups. One group will write about their breast cancer experience. The other will write about their daily activities. What we learn from this study may help us to find new ways to help women cope with breast cancer that has spread.

Enrollment

98 patients

Sex

Female

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Women with Stage IV breast cancer
Receiving cancer care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
At least 18 years of age
Can speak, read, and write in English
In the judgment of consenting professionals able to provide informed consent
Score of 4 or higher on the distress thermometer (established cutoff score for probable distress; see Jacobsen et al., 2005)

Exclusion criteria

Significant psychiatric or cognitive impairment (dementia/delirium, retardation, psychosis) that in the judgment of the investigators will preclude providing informed consent and participating in the intervention
Currently engaging in expressive writing (e.g., journal writing that involves expressing one's feelings) on a daily basis
Currently participating in intervention trials with similar endpoints • Male