Stress Management for Cancer Survivors

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cancer Survivors

Treatments: Behavioral: Expressive writing; Behavioral: Everyday experiences writing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01888523

MCC-14971

Details and patient eligibility

About

Determine the efficacy of a brief and inexpensive psychosocial intervention, (called expressive writing) in improving health outcomes for cancer survivors.

Full description

This study aims to evaluate a computer-based stress-management therapy called expressive writing. This involves logging in to an online survey and writing in the survey about your thoughts and feelings about your cancer or to type in your everyday experiences. This requires 20-30 minutes of writing a day for 4 consecutive days. You will also provide saliva samples.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• have completed their cancer radiation treatment (intent to cure),
• are cancer free, i.e. do not have currently have a diagnosis of primary/secondary cancer or any recurrence/relapse of cancer,
• are in the re-entry phase of cancer survivorship, i.e. 2-12 months post-treatment completion,
• have access to a computer and internet in a private setting, e.g. at home,
• are fluent in English,
• are able to provide informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• patients scheduled to undergo any type of cancer treatment (intent to cure/palliative) in the future (e.g. surgery after completing radiation),
• patients on any kind of corticosteroid medication (e.g. long-term prednisone therapy),
• patients having any condition that affects function of the adrenal glands (e.g. adrenal hyperplasia),
• patients with limited ability to produce saliva, e.g. patients that received radiation (or surgery) on the face region or on salivary glands; or patient's suffering from dry mouth (e.g. Sjögren's syndrome),
• patient's suffering from inflammation of the oral cavity (e.g. gingivitis).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

Everyday experiences writing

Experimental group

Description:

Involves logging in to an online survey and writing in the survey about your everyday experiences. This requires 20-30 minutes of writing a day for 4 consecutive days. You will also provide saliva samples.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Everyday experiences writing

Expressive writing

Experimental group

Description:

Involves logging in to an online survey and writing in the survey about your thoughts and feelings about your cancer. This requires 20-30 minutes of writing a day for 4 consecutive days. You will also provide saliva samples.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expressive writing